OUR PLATFORM
Decarcerate Alameda County has a vision for a just and healthy Alameda County that places at the center those communities currently targeted and fast-tracked to Santa Rita Jail. We are committed to #DefendBlackLives and principled in our organizing methodologies to amplify those who are directly impacted by criminalization and incarceration. We focus on strategies that reduce the jail population and divest from incarceration and policing. We are in deep solidarity with our movement allies fighting for life affirming resources that keep our communities whole and are determined to prioritize the money we shift away from imprisonment into their priority areas.
In recent decades policing and incarceration have been increasingly used to respond to political, economic, and social problems resulting in mass incarceration and community instability. At the same time, the government has abandoned institutions and practices that actually address what our most marginalized communities need. A local manifestation of this trend was Alameda County’s plan in spring 2020 to spend $318 million to hire more deputies and jail staff at Santa Rita Jail, instead of investing in community-based mental health treatment and other programs and services that have proven to promote health and safety for all. Below is our three pronged platform: |