FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 1, 2022
MEDIA CONTACT:
Caleb Rabinowitz, caleb.rabinowitz@asm.ca.gov 916-319-2054
Janet Asante, janet@dignityandpowernow.org 310-722-1474
Assemblymember Bryan and Care First Coalition Introduce Transformative AB 1670 Alternatives to Incarceration Statewide Commission
Los Angeles County Officially Supports Bill
Los Angeles, CA —Last week, Assemblymember Isaac Bryan (D-Baldwin Hills) and the Care First California Coalition introduced AB 1670: Alternatives to Incarceration Statewide Commission. This bill would create the Commission on Alternatives to Incarceration (ATI) within the California Health and Human Services Agency to study alternatives to incarceration, alternative crisis response models, and the effects of family separation in the jail and state prison systems.
“AB 1670 is a vital first step towards creating a statewide plan to end our reliance on law enforcement and carceral responses that don’t keep us safe, and to implement a decentralized system of care and treatment services. Throughout the Alternatives to Incarceration workgroup process in Los Angeles County, we saw that time and time again, community members uplifted the need for access to mental health care, direct cash aid, and harm reduction services. We cannot wait another day to begin to scale policies that provide life affirming responses to crises and that move forward alternatives to incarceration at the state level.”
— Eunisses Hernandez, Executive Director & Co-Founder, La Defensa
“Our jails incarcerate too many people who are struggling with homelessness, poverty, mental illness and addiction. They cycle in and out of jail and never get the support they need to lead healthy and productive lives. Three years ago in Los Angeles County, we launched an unprecedented collaboration among county officials, community leaders and people with lived experience to develop new solutions to these intersecting problems. That work resulted in a sweeping set of recommendations, which we are beginning to implement. Replicating this important work across the entire state could improve the health and safety of communities throughout California, and that is why I’m very happy that Los Angeles County is supporting this legislation.”
— Sheila Kuehl, Los Angeles County Supervisor, District 3
Speakers Included:
- Assemblymember Isaac Bryan (D-Baldwin Hills)
- Supervisor Sheila Kuehl (Los Angeles County Supervisor, District 3)
- Dr. Kelly Lytle Hernandez (Director, UCLA Ralph J Bunche Center)
- Dolores Canales (Community Outreach Director, The Bail Project)
- Eunisses Hernandez (Executive Director & Co-Founder, La Defensa)
- Ivette Alé (Director of Policy & Advocacy, Dignity and Power Now)
About the Care First California Coalition: Care First California Coalition is an alliance of community organizations, directly impacted people, civil rights activists, advocacy groups, and public defenders who seek to design and invest in systems of care and wellbeing instead of our current infrastructure of harm and punishment.