Coalition For Effective Public Safety (CEPS) Announces “Convoy of Wheelbarrows” spectacle from Capitol to Department of Corrections Headquarters on Wednesday March 1st

Sacramento – In response to Governor Schwarzenegger’s prison growth plan, the Coalition for Effective Public Safety (CEPS) will deliver thousands of pages of studies that call for prison reductions in a convoy of wheelbarrows directly to the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation on Wednesday March 1st.

At least 100 activists are expected to attend the convoy, which will begin at the state capitol building at 11:30 AM and will then march to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) headquarters, where a number of experts and activists will speak. Additional activities include a Schwarzenegger impersonator flushing the reports down a mock toilet as a symbolic action for the “Governator’s” disregard of public policy expert advice.

Rather than reducing the number of people in prison through proven programs and practices, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger wants to build two new prisons and 93,000 new prison and jail cells. This flies in the face of dozens of studies, including some done by the governor’s own commissions, that lay out clear and effective alternatives to prison expansion.

Underscoring its timeliness, this action also comes on the heels of CDCR chief Rod Hickman’s resignation. Hickman cited frustration with the lack of political will to actually reform corrections.

What: Convoy with the wheelbarrows from state capitol to the Department of Corrections Headquarters

When: Wednesday March 1, Meet in front of the north side of the Capitol
11th and L Streets at 11:30 AM, Rally at Department of Corrections Headquarters 1515 “S Street 12 NOON

CEPS Coalition Members: All of Us or None, American Civil Liberties Union, A New PATH, Behind the Walls, Books Not Bars, CA Attorneys for Criminal Justice, CA Families Against Mandatory Minimums, CA Prison Moratorium Project, CA State NAACP, Californians United for a Responsible Budget, Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice, Centerforce, Critical Resistance, Drug Policy Alliance, ESPINO Coalition, Friends Committee on Legislation, Legal Services for Prisoners with Children, Lutheran Office of Public Policy, PICO California Project, Progressive Christians Uniting, SEIU-Local 1000-CSEA, SEIU-State Council, Youth In Focus