Alex Darocy Photography

Statewide coordinated actions to end solitary confinement continued on April 23, and were held in Eureka, Los Angeles, Oakland, Point Reyes, San Diego, San Francisco, San Jose, Santa Cruz, and nationally in Philadelphia. In Santa Cruz, community members held their second monthly vigil overlooking the sea at the Santa Cruz Lighthouse. Across the state, activists have begun to coordinate vigils and protests on the 23rd in response to a call from the Pelican Bay Hunger Strikers to designate a certain date each month as Prisoner Rights Day to call attention to prison conditions. The Pelican Bay Hunger Strikers were among an estimated 30,000 California prisoners who refused meals and work assignments in a 2013 strike. Their principle demand was to end the state’s use of indefinite solitary confinement. Actions are held on the 23rd of each month to represent the 23 hours or more per day inmates held in solitary typically spend in isolation. "People are locked up in small concrete ...

Sheriff Jim Hart is making an 'emergency requisition' in the amount of $47,925 to install a seven-foot tall, 364-foot long gated iron fence in order to close off the area of the Santa Cruz County Main Jail's parking lot that is most commonly used by community members for public assembly and political demonstrations. Hart has specifically stated that recent political demonstrations held at the jail are the reason for building the new fence. Due to the lack of a continuous sidewalk along the Blaine Street side of the jail, the installation of the fence will essentially push protesters on to the street if they want to continue to assemble on that side of the jail. The Sheriff's Department expenditure request has been placed on the consent agenda of the April 21 Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors meeting. The proposed fence. Sheriff Hart explains his justification for the necessity of the fence in the April 21 agenda report: ".....following and in conjunc...

On March 23, coordinated actions were held statewide in California to oppose the use of solitary confinement in prisons and jails. Protests were planned for Eureka, Los Angeles, Oakland, San Diego, San Francisco, and San Jose. In Santa Cruz, community members gathered on West Cliff Drive for a rally and candlelight vigil. "We have decided to hold this gathering on the coast because so many people locked up in solitary confinement talk about their desire to see and be near the ocean," an event announcement for the Santa Cruz vigil read. Organizers say future actions will continue to be held statewide on the 23rd of each month to symbolize the 23 hours per day prisoners in solitary are held in the "complete isolation" of their cells. As surfers made their way to and from the busy Santa Cruz surf spot, Steamer Lane, the rally was held on the lawn next to the Santa Cruz Lighthouse, which also houses the Santa Cruz Surfing Museum. The rally featured guest speakers ...

Since August of 2012, six people have died while in custody at the Santa Cruz County Jail. On January 24, community members came together for a 'Cages Kill' rally and march to raise awareness about poor medical conditions inside of the jail, as well as to discuss the broader issue of the negative effects of mass incarceration, both locally and on the State of California. The rally was organized in response to the death of 65-year-old Sharyon Gibbs, who was found dead in the jail on November 5, 2014. Marching down Pacific Avenue. On November 5, commercial news outlets reported that the Santa Cruz County Sheriff's Department alerted the press to the death of Sharyon Gibbs, and sent out a notice that stated it was due to "probable natural causes." The full Sheriff's press release was never published publicly on the department's website. Follow up reports in commercial news outlets appeared in mid-December, reporting that Santa Cruz County coroners had...