Press
Human Rights Groups Urge UN to Call for Abolition of “Death by Incarceration”
September 15, 2022
Several human rights organizations submitted a 31-page complaint to United Nations experts today, alleging that the United States is committing torture and violating the prohibition against racial discrimination by condemning people to death by incarceration through extreme sentences including life and life without possibility of parole (LWOP).
LA Times Article on SB 300 California’s ‘special circumstances’ rule must change
BY Heidi
August 02, 2022
SACRAMENTO — Jamil Wilson was planning to celebrate his 20th birthday with friends, so he didn’t give it much thought when one of them, prior to the party, asked if they could pick up another pal at his home in Cerritos.
Davis Vanguard – CA Capitol Rally to Urge End to ‘Racist, Cruel’ Life without Parole Sentences
BY Heidi
August 22, 2022
Members of the Davis Vanguard staff spoke with supporters of Senate Bill 300 who attended the Support SB300 rally at the California State Capitol in Sacramento on Monday, August 26th. SB 300, which would reform felony murder special circumstances policies, passed the Assembly Appropriations committee last Thursday, bringing the legislation one step closer to law. Joanne Scheer, founder and Executive Director of Felony Murder Elimination Project was among the advocates Vanguard staff spoke with.
LWOP is a death sentence: Give Stanley Bernard Davis a chance for parole!
September 14, 2021
by Drop LWOP Coalition
On Sept. 1, 2021, Stanley Bernard Davis, a Black man who was sentenced to the death penalty in 1989, was resentenced to Life Without Parole (LWOP). Prosecutors in the L.A. District Attorney’s Office accepted a habeas corpus petition from Mr. Davis which demonstrated that he had an intellectual disability and therefore was legally ineligible for the death penalty.
DROP LWOP: Fighting Life Without Parole Sentences
September 13, 2021
by Linda Evans
Life Without Parole (LWOP) means a living death sentence. Dropping LWOP is a step towards abolition.
“Listen! Hear the words of a 79-year-old woman who has been in prison for 38 years on Life Without Parole (LWOP). Life without parole is a slow death sentence. It eats away hope – for the people inside, for their families. It is not justice. Drop LWOP!” – Doris Roldan (serving LWOP at California Institution for Women)
Committee Recommends Ending Three Strikes, LWOP in California
December 17, 2021
Sacramento, CA -For nearly two years, the Committee on Revision of the Penal Code has undertaken an intensive investigation into California’s criminal legal system and this month they have released a sweeping report most notably to repeal the Three Strikes Law and create a review process for people serving LWOP (Life Without Parole).
Jerry Brown—most forgiving governor in modern California history
BY Ben Christopher
December 24, 2018 Updated JUNE 23, 2020
Since 2011, Brown has pardoned 1,332 inmates, nearly four times more than the previous four governors combined. It’s also more than three times as many pardons as Brown issued during his first stint as governor between 1975 and 1983.
Drop LWOP Rally 2018
On Monday, August 6th, 2018, CCWP joined CURB and many other organizations to deliver the letter below to Governor Brown asking him to change all LWOP sentences to parole-eligible sentences (over 100 organizations signed the letter!). We also held a powerful rally on the steps of the capitol to join forces in our fight against LWOP and all extreme sentencing.
Life-Without-Parole Sentences Are Exploding. But America’s Legal Defense System Hasn’t Kept Pace.
May 22, 2021
By Cary Aspinwall, The Marshall Project
Almost 56,000 people are serving sentences that will keep them locked up until they die, but most states don’t have minimum qualifications for their lawyers.
LWOP Women Released After Years Behind Bars
July 31, 2021
Women who have served decades in California’s state prisons are given a second chance at life after enduring some of the state’s harsher sentencing.
California Felony-Murder Law Challenge Backed by Ninth
August 8, 2018 NINTH CIRCUIT
[The Courts] ruling struck down a federal law, part of the Armed Career Criminal Act, that increased punishment for any felon convicted of being armed and committing a crime that “presents a serious potential risk of physical injury to another.” [Read More]
California Coalition for Women Prisoners’ Response to Governor’s Holiday Commutations
On Saturday, December 23, 2017, Governor Brown granted nineteen commutations.
Of the nineteen commutations, four are women serving Life Without Parole (LWOP) sentences and five are men serving LWOP. Two of the women, Kelly Savage and Susan Bustamante, are long-time members of the California Coalition for Women Prisoners (CCWP).
THE MORAL PROBLEM OF LIFE-WITHOUT-PAROLE SENTENCES
By Brandon L. Garrett TIME Magazine, October 26, 2017
Only about 2,800 U.S. prisoners are on death row today, and only 31 were sentenced to death last year — which is remarkable. In the 1990s, death rows reached over 3,500 prisoners; several hundred were sentenced to death each year. This is a cause for celebration. But we should think carefully about what we have largely replaced death row with: life row.
CALIFORNIA GOVERNOR COMMUTES 9 LENGTHY PRISON SENTENCES
USNEWS, August 18, 2017
California Gov. Jerry Brown has commuted the lengthy prison sentences of nine inmates serving time for violent crimes, including six people convicted of murder.
News and Updates
STRATEGY SESSION
Sept 14-15, 2019 Los Angeles On the weekend of September 14-15, over 125 people gathered at the beautiful Community Coalition building in South L.A. to strategize about how to end Life Without Parole and all extreme sentencing in California. The convening was initiated by the California Coalition for Women Prisoners (CCWP), Californians United for a […]READ MORE STRATEGY SESSION
EXECUTIVE ORDER HALTS DEATH PENALTY
On March 13, 2019, Governor Gavin Newsom announced his decision to halt the execution of 737 people sentenced to death in California prisons. This moratorium on capital punishment acknowledges the significant racial, economic, gender and disability disparities in death penalty sentencing and is an important step toward justice. California has the highest prison population in […]READ MORE EXECUTIVE ORDER HALTS DEATH PENALTY
DROP LWOP COALITION 