JOIN US FOR A PERFORMANCE OF MARIPOSA & THE SAINT
FOLLOWED BY A CONVERSATION ABOUT THE GROWING MOVEMENT TO
END SOLITARY CONFINEMENT
Sunday, October 25th, 5 – 7pm
United University Church
on the Campus of the Univerity of Southern California
817 W 34th St, Los Angeles, CA 90089
Enter the campus at Jefferson and Hoover
TICKETS:
$10-$15 Sliding Scale (No one will be turned away for lack of funds.)
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
www.juliasteeleallen.com
Facebook: Youth Justice Coalition / action@youth4justice.org
In 2012, Mariposa was sentenced to 15 months in isolated confinement.
Years later, she is still there.
The play chronicles her letters to longtime friend Julia Steele Allen.
IN PARTNERSHIP WITH THE YOUTH JUSTICE COALITION
Members of the Youth Justice Coalition who have experienced solitary confinement in
juvenile halls, jails and prisons will share their experiences and introduce the
audience to the current struggle to pass state legislation to challenge the use of
solitary confinement in California.
ABOUT SB124
Authored by Senator Mark Leno and co-sponsored by Ella Baker Center for Human Rights, the Youth Justice Coalition, the Children’s Defense Fund – California, and the CA Public Defender’s Association, Senate Bill 124 would drastically limit the harmful practice of solitary confinement (also known as seclusion and isolation) of youth in juvenile facilities. This includes all juvenile halls, probation camps and ranches and the state’s Division of Juvenile Justice youth prison system. The use of solitary confinement would not be used for punishment, but only if the youth poses a serious and imminent threat to themselves or others, that isolation be used only after all other interventions have been exhausted, and that the practice be limited to 4 hours.
THE IMPACT OF SOLITARY CONFINEMENT
Francisco Martinez, a youth leader with the Youth Justice Coalition who has been organizing to pass SB 124 experienced solitary confinement at Los Padrinos Juvenile Hall in Downey, CA. “Experiencing solitary confinement as a young teen was horrible – like an animal in a cage. The conditions were a small, dirty concrete room. The walls were covered in dirt and dried up spit, smeared food, tagging on the walls and on the bars of the bed, and covering the windows. The mattress was so ripped up it felt as if I was laying on steel bars. We were kept in our boxers with a tee shirt and socks, and a thin blanket. The cold from the air conditioning blowing 24-7 was freezing torture, but was even worse for me, because I have asthma. I had shortness of breath when I woke up until I went to sleep. When I had an asthma attack, I waited from morning until night to go to the medical unit. I was shaking and never able to get a good night’s sleep.”
JOIN THE CAMPAIGN TO PASS SB124!!!
The California State Legislature will consider SB124 this legislative season. Despite the fact that the United Nations considers solitary confinement of young people torture, we must fight to ensure that the State passes this important bill.
