Support

Materials Related To Support From Outside the Walls Training Series.
You can find CDCR policies, forms, and contact information here https://caitlinkellyhenry.com/cdcrpolicies/.


This training series will focus on practical skills development for loved ones, activists, legal workers, and lawyers to understand the nitty gritty methods and best practices for supporting people on the inside. All (non-lawyers and activists included) are welcome to attend.

      • Email list, sign up for announcements http://eepurl.com/7WwfL
      • Pre-Training Poll/RSVP (please complete this survey to shape content and schedule and print materials for this series of trainings)
      • Donate to cover training costs and to support the Prisoner Advocacy Network here 

*Trainings are weelchair and public transit accessible*.


Advocating for CA Prisoners: At Progressive Law Day

Advocating for CA Prisoners Slides

This panel, given by recently released prisoner advocate Marvin Mutch introduces participants to Title 15, the CDCR Department Operating Manual (DOM), and Operational/Institutional Procedures.

  • Invite http://www.nlgsf.org/event/progressive-law-day
  • October 2, 2016 2:50-4:20PM, UC Berkeley College of Law

Inside Out: NLG Support for People in Prison & How to Start A Project

Inside Out Training Slides

The panel will introduce 5 of NLG’s efforts to support incarcerated people. These projects all aim to make some connection between volunteers (law students, social workers, family and friends of incarcerated persons, formerly incarcerated people, activists, attorneys, etc.) and incarcerated individuals.  We will discuss the skills this work requires, how each committee endeavors to take directions from incarcerated people, and why this is important. We also will explore some of the challenges and risks of working with people in prison and how we address them. We will share some successes.

Attendees will leave understanding how 5 NLG projects support people in prison, best practices for working with people inside, and with opportunities to get involved in the work.
1. Introductions (5 min)
2. Background on each project, what it does, how to join.
Mass Incarceration Committee Prison Mail Project (5 min)
Jailhouse Lawyer’s committee (5 min)
NYC MIC’s Parole Preparation Project (5 min)
Political Prisoner Support Committee (5 min)
SF Prisoner Advocacy Network (5 min)
3. Discussion: skills needed for prisoner advocacy (10 min)
4. Discussion: tips for supporting incarcerated people (10 min)
5. Discussion: best practices in taking direction from incarcerated people (10 min)
6. Q&A (15 min)

  • Presenters
    • Marie Levin (NLGSF Prisoner Advocacy Network, CFASC, PHSS) is an African American woman and minister whose brother, Sitawa Nantambu Jamaa, was one of the main representatives during California’s hunger strikes.
    • Theresa Squillacote is NLG Co-VP for Jailhouse Lawyers, just released after 18 years following a political sting. Theresa advocates for inmates, working with the NLG NO to connect with NLG incarcerated membership.
    • Mark Shervington is an experienced jailhouse lawyer who participated in the Parole Preparation Project participant on the inside and outside. He successfully challenged many NY Parole Board’s policies and practices.
    • Susan Rosenberg (NLG Political Prisoner Support Committee) is a human and prisoners rights advocate, award-winning writer, and a former political prisoner who spent over 16 years in Federal Prison. She is an adjunct lecturer at Hunter College. Susan is a founding member of the National Council on Incarcerated and Formerly Incarcerated women and Girls and works to free political prisoners.

Strategies for Abolitionist Lawyering: Building Practices Into Advocacy, Direct Service, & Referrals

  • Flyer
  • Invite https://www.facebook.com/events/905811942873046/
  • Tuesday, May 24 at 6 PM – 8 PM
  • Asian Americans Advancing Justice – Asian Law Caucus 55 Columbus Ave, San Francisco, California 94111
  • This workshop will provide real life examples from attorneys and advocates who employ abolitionist practices in their work. Panelists will present specific scenarios, then participants will offer feedback aimed toward improving alternatives to relying on traditional criminal legal approaches. Scenarios include being a repeat player with bureaucrats and gatekeepers; how to maintain abolitionist principles without being a detriment to current or future clients; how to get good outcomes without buying into the norms of the system.
  • Non-lawyers and lawyers encouraged to attend! All are welcome.
  • Free, but donations encouraged to cover the costs of materials and food.
  • For RSVP and input or topics/questions you think we should address please click here tinyurl.com/Walls-Pre-Training-Survey
  • Panelists Include:
    • -Woods Ervin, Administrative Director, Leadership Team, Transgender Intersex Justice Project, http://www.tgijp.org/mission-and-staff.html
    • -Anoop Prasad, Sr. Staff Attorney, Immigrant Rights Program, Asian Americans Advancing Justice – Asian Law Caucus http://www.advancingjustice-alc.org/staff-member/anoop-prasad
    • -Jenny Zhao, Staff Attorney, Immigrant Rights Program, Asian Americans Advancing Justice – Asian Law Caucus http://www.advancingjustice-alc.org/staff-member/jenny-zhao
    • -Saira Hussain, Staff Attorney, Criminal Justice Reform Program, Asian Americans Advancing Justice – Asian Law Caucus http://www.advancingjustice-alc.org/staff-member/saira-hussain
    • -Caitlin Kelly Henry, Attorney & Educator https://caitlinkellyhenry.com/about/
    • -Lilly Fashi-Haskell, Critical Resistance http://criticalresistance.org/chapters/cr-oakland/
    • Cat Brooks, Anti-Police Terror Project http://www.antipoliceterrorproject.org/

SHU Advocacy Post Ashker Case

  • Thursday May 19, 6-8PM
    https://www.facebook.com/events/1623115408012317/
  • At ACLU, 39 Drumm St, San Francisco, CA 94111 (Ring the buzzer and come up the elevator).
  • 1.5 hours General CLE credit (We ask attorneys to make a donation of $30 to support the work of the Prisoner Advocacy Network; no one will be turned away.)
  • CLE Materials
  • This training will teach participants about the Ashker v. Governor settlement and strategies for advocating for and with people still enduring solitary confinement or retaliation due to political activity and/or alleged gang activity. Trainers will focus on strategies for successfully advocating with and on behalf of people in SHU or otherwise related to the Ashker settlement.
  • The format of the training will be a question and answer session between Carol Strickman, Steven Czifra, and readings pieces on topic by incarcerated Jailhouse Lawyers. More TBA. If you have specific questions you would like addressed, please email them to: eva@delairlaw.com
  • For RSVP and input or topics/questions you think we should address please click here tinyurl.com/Walls-Pre-Training-Survey
  • Presenters Include:
    • Carol Strickman (Senior Staff Attorney at Legal Services for Prisoners with Children and named attorney on Ashker v. Gov.
    • Steven Czifra, who spent 16 years in CDCR custody, 8 of which were in the SHU. He co-founded the UC Berkeley Underground Scholars Initiative (USI). Formerly incarcerated students created USI to support all prospective and current UC Berkeley students impacted by issues of mass incarceration, imprisonment, and detainment of any kind. The goal of USI is to bridge the topic of mass incarceration that is highly popularized in academia with one that is grounded in the lived experiences of UC Berkeley students. USI has the unique opportunity of making UC Berkeley a catalyst for the development of a Prison to School pipeline within the University of California educational system.

Prisoner Advocacy Network Training

  • April 20, 2016, 5pm, UC Berkeley, Room 130 https://www.facebook.com/events/1586919121620374/
  • Pan Volunteer Recruitment Brochure (For Web) (For Print)

Prisoner Advocacy Network Training

  • November 21, 2015  1pm-4pm
  • UC Hastings, 198 McAllister St, Room C.
  • Pamphlet https://tinyurl.com/Nov21PAN 1 Page Event Flyer
  • https://www.facebook.com/events/171643746504369/
    • Who are PAN volunteers: We are a network of California activists, family members, formerly incarcerated people, legal workers, law students, and attorneys.
    • Who do we support: Our focus is narrow and specific – supporting people in California’s solitary confinement and similar conditions of isolation such as security housing units (SHUs), administrative segregation, and gender-based segregation. We prioritize advocating for jailhouse lawyers and those engaged in political activity.
    • What do we do: Provide non-litigation advocacy for incarcerated people experiencing discrimination, retaliation, and rights violations. Gather evidence documenting conditions and trends of treatment in the exceptionally repressive prison environments of solitary and other forms of segregation.
    • What is our objective: To strengthen movements on the inside and their corollaries on the outside by providing advocacy for activists on the inside. We seek to eliminate the use of solitary as punishment for people who are discriminated against due to their political perspectives and those who advocate and organize on their own and other prisoners’ behalf.
    • Why is there a need for PAN volunteers: Following California hunger strikes, loved ones of people suffering from solitary confinement alerted the NLGSF to the need for individualized advocacy. Though a recent settlement agreement in the Ashker v. Brown suit will result in many transfers, we know CDCR will continue to deny appropriate care and conditions, involuntarily segregate, mistreat, and retaliate against people.
    • What does PAN mean by advocacy: Tasks include mail correspondence with people inside, phone calls and letters to prison and health care officials, assisting with filing administrative appeals, filing complaints, providing resources from the web or other sources, public records requests and possibly prison visits. Our scope does not include litigation.
    • What is the commitment: Volunteers will be asked to attend a 3-hour training in the fall or winter of 2015, and review informational documents before being assigned to advocate.  Advocates will be expected to continue until an issue is resolved or one year, whichever is shorter.  More is encouraged.
    • What support will advocates receive: The NLGSF office will administer the program. Staff will coordinate intake forms and advocate matching, mail, provision of educational and technical resources/guides, training and templates. Attorneys experienced with prisoners’ rights and litigation will be available as mentors.
    • How do I volunteer: email pan@nlgsf.org include the following information:
      1. Name
      2. Status: family, formerly incarcerated, pen-pal, legal worker, lawyer, law student
      3. Describe any relevant experience
      4. Let us know if you are interested in being involved in the planning process
  • Trainers Include: Vanessa Sloan (Life Support Alliance), Sajad Shakoor (Golden State Institute), Marie Levin (CFASC), Carlos Villarreal (NLG), Taeva Scheffler (CPF), Caitlin Kelly Henry (NLG)

Training 10: Vicarious Trauma and Compassion Fatigue for Advocates of People Incarcerated in the SHU/Solitary/Segregation

  • Saturday October 3, 10am-12pm, @ 1201 Martin Luther King Jr, Way, Oakland.
  • Competence Issues, 1 hour CA CLE Credit
  • This training will be an opportunity to explore compassion fatigue. What is it? How does it affect us? How does it impact the work we are trying to do? As we learn about some of the psychology of compassion fatigue, participants will also have the opportunity to talk about their personal experiences, build on their own knowledge and tell their stories in ways that help them heal.
  • Facebook invite  https://www.facebook.com/events/1696263240603035/
  • CLE Materials
  •  Presenters:
    • Eric L. Waters, LCSW is a social worker and an activist. He is a licensed mental health clinician and has been providing educational experiences and trainings for 10+ years. Eric was originally trained as a movement organizer and workshop facilitator. Eric has trained youth organizers around the country, given workshops for mental health agencies around the Bay Area and shared therapeutic experiences with foster youth and their families. He attended Hampshire College, San Francisco State University’s School of Social Work and has been trained by Training for Change and the Dulwich Centre, among other notable institutions.
    • Dr. Terry Kupers, Institute Professor at the Wright Institute in San Francisco and Distinguished Life Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association, is among the foremost national experts on the mental health effects of solitary confinement. His forensic psychiatry experience includes testimony in several large class action litigations concerning jail and prison conditions, sexual abuse, and the quality of mental health services inside correctional facilities. He is also consultant to Human Rights Watch. In preparation for his expert report in Ashker v. Brown he interviewed numerous current and former prisoners and their loved ones coping with the trauma of surviving decades in the SHU.

Training 9: Writing Advocacy Letters for Medical Care, Mental Health Care, and Disability Accommodations

Participants will learn how to:

  • Write effective advocacy letters with the goal of obtaining medical or mental health care, or disability accommodation.
  • Use medical and c-file records.
  • Perform and incorporate basic research on medical, mental health, and disability issues, as well as how to find and use experts.
  • Pursue strategies once the internal grievance process is completed.
  • Identify whether people are class members in existing class action suits, and how to connect with attorneys monitoring treatment of class members.
  • 1 Hour General CLE Credit & 1 Hour Elimination of Bias CLE Credit
  • Tuesday, June 23, 2015 6-8PM
  • Invite https://www.facebook.com/events/877984738933806/
  • Location 1201 Martin Luther King Jr. Way, Ste #200
  • Trainers
    • Rebekah Evenson is a senior staff attorney with the Prison Law Office. Rebekah is lead counsel in a case challenging thepractice in California prisons of imposing lengthy race-based lockdowns (Mitchell v. Cate), and in a case filed under the ADA on behalf of prisoners with disabilities (Armstrong v. Brown). She was co-counsel for the plaintiffs in Brown v. Plata, which resulted in a U.S. Supreme Court decision requiring California to reduce prison crowding by approximately 50,000 prisoners. Before joining the Prison Law Office, Rebekah worked at the labor and civil rights law firm Altshuler Berzon LLP, and prior to that, she was a law fellow at the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area. Rebekah is a graduate of Yale Law School, and served as a law clerk to Judge Betty Fletcher of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.
    • Alison Hardy joined the Prison Law Office in 1988 and, with a grant from the Berkeley Foundation, initially advocated primarily for prisoners with HIV. Since then, she has represented California and Arizona prisoners in numerous federal class actions, focusing on health care-related issues and on conditions of confinement, including conditions for death row prisoners.She was a member of the team that successfully defended the California population cap order that the Supreme Court upheld in 2011 in Plata v.Brown. Alison graduated from UCLA Law School.

Training 8: Meeting People Where They’re At

This training will teach participants how to be conscious of the experiences and conditions incarcerated and formerly incarcerated people face, in order to improve participants’ advocacy. Trainers will focus on methods to increase mindfulness and improve relationship building and advocacy skills during phone calls, correspondence, visits, and other support activities. Examples will be drawn from experiences at CDCR Women’s facilities.

  • 2 Hours Elimination of Bias CLE
  • April 29, 2015, 6-8pm, 1201 Martin Luther King Jr. Way at 12th St., Oakland
  • Invite https://www.facebook.com/events/421294274710875/
  • CLE Materials Meeting People Where They’re At
  • Trainers will include:
    • Windy Click, California Coalition for Women Prisoners Coordinating Committee Leader, Parole Support Coordinator, Spitfire Speaker’s Bureau Coordinator http://www.womenprisoners.org/about/. Windy is a survivor of prison and prisoner rights organizer. She was released in 2012 from Valley State Prison for Women where she did 17 years on a 15 to life sentence. Windy was a leader inside prison educating on Domestic Violence and Health Education. She has been a member of the California Coalition for Women Prisoners for the past 13 years.
    • Samantha Rogers, Program Coordinator, California Coalition for Women Prisoners http://www.womenprisoners.org/about/ formerly incarcerated, original member of Fired Up! an insider-outsider grassroots network founded by CCWP former prisoners that meets weekly in the San Francisco County Jail. Formally incarcerated woman for over 17 years On installment plan and in 2011 I landed in San Francisco County jail and met CCWP doing a group called Personal Self – Empowerment and I was so excited about this group! 2011 I was a volunteer and 2012 I became part-time staff. Also going through my own battle of re-entry on life’s terms. I realize it was really people out here to help us women of all colors. My empowerment part kicks in and I wanted to be part of my sisters that had been left behind voice out in the world. Chowchilla Freedom Rally happened and I have been on a roll every scene. Traveling and breaking barriers wherever I go and managing to find healing for myself so I can continue to have healthy relationship with my children and grandchildren. Which they are depending on me to help them to the next generation.
    • Nora E. Wilson, Director of Legal Advocacy, Justice Now http://jnow.org/who.html is a prison abolitionist, attorney, and human rights activist. As Director of Legal Advocacy at Justice Now, she coordinates direct service provision to people in prison, trains future lawyers and activists in advocating for people in California prisons, and provides support to family and friends advocating for loved ones inside. Such support ensures people in prison and communities targeted for imprisonment the physical and emotional respite required to take part in Justice Now’s systemic change activities. Nora grew up in a conservative town in the deep South and learned from watching her mother advocate on behalf of a family member in prison. During law school, she discovered the most meaningful work she had ever undertaken through an internship with National Advocates for Pregnant Women, where she worked to secure the human and civil rights, health, and welfare of pregnant and parenting women who were suffering harm at the hands of the criminal justice system. After law school, Nora moved from the East Coast to become a proud resident of the East Bay. She began volunteering with Legal Services for Prisoners with Children in San Francisco and soon discovered Justice Now. Nora continued her legal training at Justice Now for over a year before she became a Staff Attorney, specializing in provision of direct services and medical advocacy on behalf of people in women’s prisons, as well as compassionate release advocacy and support on behalf of terminally ill and permanently incapacitated people in California prisons. In January 2015, when Justice Now adopted a collective staff structure, Nora transitioned to the role of Director of Legal Advocacy. She received her BA in Political Science from the University of Georgia in Athens, Georgia and her JD from Fordham University School of Law in New York City.

Training 7: Challenges to Getting Appropriate Medical or Mental Health Care On The Inside: Tools For More Effective Advocacy and Better Outcomes for Incarcerated People and Supporters On The Outside

This training will teach participants the legal rights of inmates with medical or mental health needs. The trainer(s) will focus on strategies to advocate for better treatment, including evaluations, medications, and emergency care, for individuals in jails and prisons. Examples will be drawn from experiences with individual and systemic legal advocacy. 1.5 Hours General CLE Credit

  • April 23, 2015, 6:30-8pm, 1201 Martin Luther King Jr. Way at 12th St., Oakland

 Training 6:  Support for People in Immigration Detention

    • February 28, 2015, 12-2pm, 1201 Martin Luther King Jr. Way at 12th St., Oakland – CLE: 1 hour general, 1 hour elimination of bias
    • Anoop Prasad, Staff Attorney, Immigrant Rights Program Asian Americans Advancing Justice – Asian Law Caucus http://www.advancingjustice-alc.org/staff-member/anoop-prasad
    • Christina Mansfield, Co-Executive Director, Community Initiatives for Visiting Immigrants in Confinement (CIVIC) http://www.endisolation.org/about/leadership-team/
    • Abner Dighero-Castaneda. Who experienced seven months of unlawful detention at Yuba County Jail.

CLE Materials Support For People In Immigration Detention

  • This will include legal visits and family/social visits. We will cover topics similar to these http://www.endisolation.org/resources/for-visitors/ http://www.endisolation.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/CIVIC_Visitation_Directive_Final.pdf
  • Invite https://www.facebook.com/events/320085904848871/

Training 5: Legal and Family/Social Visits

Saturday January 31, 2-4pm 1201 Martin Luther King Jr. Way at 12th St., Oakland – 2 Hours General CLE  Training 5 Flyer
  • Panelists will teach participants about how to conduct legal visits and family/social visits.
  • Panelists
    • Taeva Shefler, Prison Visit Program Director, California Prison Focus www.prisons.org
    • Joy Ross: Former member of the Statewide Inmate Family Council and San Quentin Inmate Family Council. Has been a regular visitor to California prisons since 2004.
    • Arieta Ross: Current member and website coordinator of San Quentin Inmate Family Council since 2013. Has been a regular visitor to California Prisons for several years. www.sanquentin-ifc.org
  • Visiting Incarcerated people CLE Materials – Presentation and Resources on Visiting Incarcerated People
  • Legal Services for Prisoners with Children, Fighting for Our Rights: A Toolbox for Family Advocates of California Prisoners http://www.prisonerswithchildren.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/Toolbox-final_for-website.pdf
  • Pelican Bay Visitor Application
  • San Quentin Inmate Family Council Brochure
  • Invite & more info here https://www.facebook.com/events/1479990305594570/

Training 4: CDCR Records; How to request, read, and utilize prison C-File, medical, and other records.

Sunday November 16th, 12PM-2PM. 1201 Martin Luther King Jr. Way at 12th St., Oakland  –Flyer Here

Training 3: Medical and conditions advocacy for transgender people detained or incarcerated in the federal system.

Wednesday, October 22nd, 6PM, 1201 Martin Luther King Jr. Way at 12th St., Oakland.
  • 2 Hours CLE (1 Anti Bias, 1 General CLE)

  • Olga Tomchin (Immigration Detention Project, Transgender Law Center), Jennifer Orthwein (Pro Bono Counsel, Transgender Law Center), and Janetta Johnson (TGI Justice, Program Coordinator) will teach participants how to advocate for transgender people detained or incarcerated in the federal system. This training will focus on practical skills development for activists, legal workers, and lawyers to understand the nitty gritty methods and best practices for supporting people on the inside.
  • Bios
    • Olga’s http://transgenderlawcenter.org/about/staff-and-board/olga-tomchin
    • Jennifer’s http://transgenderlawcenter.org/archives/3327 Invite here https://www.facebook.com/events/766743050058397/
    • Janetta Louise Johnson’s (TGI Justice, Program Coordinator, Member Leadership Development and the Formerly Incarcerated and Convicted People’s Movement). http://www.tgijp.org/mission-and-staff.htm
  • Resources

Training 2: CDCR Appeals Process

September 23, 2014 10:50AM-1PM at NLG’s Progressive Law Day
  • People in prison are often required to exhaust internal, administrative complaint processes before they can take a case to court. In California, non-lawyers and lawyers can be a huge help to people with their complaints against the prison system. Learn how to assist California inmates with their administrative appeals in this session led by Sajad Shakoor of the Tayba Foundation.
  • Sajad Shakoor’s Bio http://www.taybafoundation.org/about-us/staff/
  • Materials  CDCR Appeals Process (docx) CDCR Appeals Process (pdf)

Training 1: Support from the Outside

June 14, 2014 at the NLG Far West Regional
  • This training will be the first in a series. It will focus on practical skills development for activists, legal workers, and lawyers to understand the nitty gritty methods and best practices for supporting and advocating for people inside prisons. Trainers include formerly incarcerated people and family members, legal workers, activists, and attorneys. We plan to read training materials prepared by currently incarcerated people. The training will be structured to benefit people already plugged in to this work, as well as to prepare participants to hit the ground running with volunteer opportunities offered by the programs present at the training (Human Rights Pen Pal Program offering correspondence, California Prison Focus offering legal visits to Corcoran and Pelican Bay SHUs, and the Advocacy Network program advocating for people in solitary). Learn nuts and bolts of: confidentiality, correspondence, visits, records requests, and re-entry. Learn about basic rights (conditions, medical, staff conduct, etc.) and potential remedies within and external to CDCR. Note: While some of the content is California or federal system specific, most is generalizable to other states.
  • CLE Materials
  • Bios
    • Janetta Louise Johnson (TGI Justice, Program Coordinator, Member Leadership Development and the Formerly Incarcerated and Convicted People’s Movement)is an Afro-American Transsexual from Tampa, Florida. She moved to San Francisco in 1997, where she has worked in various capacities at non-profits and social service agencies. She recently survived 3 years in federal prison and is committed to developing strategies and interventions to reduce the recidivism rate of the transgender community. Janetta’s involvement with TGI Justice dates back to 2006. She served as Interim Organizing Director in November/December ‘08, planned vibrant grassroots fundraisers, and later put her skills as a community organizer, trainer, and activist to use inside as she fiercely and tirelessly advocated for her rights as a transgender person in jail and prison. http://www.tgijp.org/mission-and-staff.htm
    • Rudy Howell (All of Us or None) was recently released after completing 21 years on a 25 year federal sentence as a first time offender. Rudy completed paralegal training and an Associate’s Degree in Business Administration while on the inside, and is pursuing a BA in Criminal Justice at San Francisco State University. Rudy recently completed an internship at Legal Services for Prisoners With Children. Rudy is engaged in Project ReMADE (Reentry: Making A Difference through Entrepreneurship) an entrepreneur incubator program at Stanford. Upon completion he will emerge with the foundation to launch RHFCJ Consulting (Rudolph Howell Federal Criminal Justice Consulting) a business that works with people who facing federal charges to prepare them to do time in the federal system.http://www.prisonerswithchildren.org/our-projects/allofus-or-none/
    • Sajad Shakoor (Tayba Foundation) Originally from Pakistan, Sajad suffered constant teasing and bullying upon immigration. This led him to pick up a gun and join a gang, which led to his “three strikes” sentence. While in prison he began a revival of his faith, started and managed groups and curriculum, and earned a BS. Sajad was instrumental in getting the three strikes law amended, and was then released under Proposition 36 in 2013. He is currently pursuing a PHd and working full-time teaching Muslim prisoners by correspondence. http://www.taybafoundation.org/about-us/staff/
    • Marie Levin (Family Member of Incarcerated Person, Prisoner Hunger Strike Solidarity Coalition) is a minister (non-denominational) and co-founder of the non-profit, Freedom Outreach Ministry, that conducts ministry outreach in youth facilities, jails, and prisons. She is an activist whose brother Sitawa Jamaa was one of the lead representatives of the prisoner hunger strikers. Sitawa has been in SHU isolation at Pelican Bay since 1990. He is one of the plaintiffs named in the Ashker v. Brown lawsuit filed that alleges that the use of solitary confinement in California violates due process and amounts to torture. http://prisonerhungerstrikesolidarity.wordpress.com/about/
    • Caitlin Kelly Henry (NLG, CPF) is an attorney, educator and legal consultant, with over ten years of working with incarcerated people and their loved ones. Caitlin endeavors to alter conditions in jails and prisons through litigation, education, advocacy and organizing. http://caitlinkellyhenry.com/about/
    • Marilyn S. McMahon (CPF) is an attorney and the executive director of California Prison Focus. She is co-counsel with the Center for Constitutional Rights in the class action challenging long-term solitary confinement at Pelican Bay State Prison. She is also a member of the Mediation Team, which advocates for prisoners, especially on issues related to their hunger strikes. http://www.prisons.org/
    • Kim Rohrbach (HSS/CPF), a paralegal, has conducted legal visits to men in the SHUs and provides individual medical and legal advocacy for inmates. Kim has written to legislators, CDCR and its contractors expressing her concerns about existing rules and policies, legislative initiatives and changes to administrative regulations. She’s been involved in grassroots efforts to stop the construction of new jails, has published in Prison Focus Newsletter, and is a core organizer with the Hunger Strike Solidarity Coalition. As a spokesperson, she conducts outreach and attends hearings. http://www.prisons.org/
    • Jared Rudolph (Prisoner Reentry Network) has assisted individuals anticipating release from San Quentin State Prison for over two years through the California Reentry Program. Jared is starting a reentry program in CSP – Solano through a newly-formed non-profit, the Prisoner Reentry Network. http://ca-reentry.org/about/
    • Sharon Martinas (Human Rights Pen Pal Program, PHHS) The Black Liberation Movement for racial/national self-determination of the late 1960’s inspired and politicized Sharon to become an anti-racist solidarity organizer. With the leadership of the Black Student Union at San Francisco State, she coordinated one of the earliest student-based community organizing programs for predominantly white student activists. In the early 1970’s, as an NLG legal worker, Sharon helped train ‘third world’ community organizations to create ‘Serve the People’ community legal defense programs. From 1993 through 2005, she coordinated the Challenging White Supremacy workshop, an anti-racist training program for grassroots, mostly white, social justice activists who wanted to become racial justice solidarity organizers. (www.cwsworkshop.org) Presently, she coordinates the Human Rights Pen Pal program, a project of the Prisoner Hunger Strike Solidarity coalition. http://prisonerhungerstrikesolidarity.wordpress.com/2012/12/05/human-rights-pen-pal-program/

Letters & Materials From People on the Inside


CDCR Made Documents Deemed Important By People on the Inside
CDCR staff contact information and other policies/forms are here https://caitlinkellyhenry.com/cdcrpolicies/

Other Helpful CDCR Documents

  1. CDCR Information Sharing Practices NCDOM Text Chp 1, Art 15, Information Practices
  2. CDCR Guidelines for Inspecting Records (without a release) CDCR 1431
  3. CDCR to Inspect Public Records CDCR 1432
  4. CDCR Non-Medical Release Authorization Forms (for c-file, alternative to 6385 medical release) CDCR 1019 CDCR 1021
  5. CDCR Policies Re: Legal Visits, Family Visits, Phone Calls, and Mail https://caitlinkellyhenry.com/cdcrpolicies/
  6. CDCR Public Official  Contact Information
    1. CDCR Contact Information
    2. Litigation Coordinator phone numbers http://www.cdcr.ca.gov/Ombuds/litigation.html
    3. Public Information Officer Name, Email, Phone Numbers http://www.cdcr.ca.gov/News/PIO_list/Adult_Institutions_Public_Information_Officers.pdf

Federal BOP Made Documents


Other Presenter Suggested Materials

  • Legal Services For Prisoners With Children – Manuals http://www.prisonerswithchildren.org/resource-library/family-matters/
  • Prison Officials: A Beginning Resource Packet for California Prisoners’ Advocates Researched and edited by members of the Pledge of Resistance and Human Rights Pen Pal programs: Projects of the Prisoner Hunger Strike Solidarity Coalition 1.14 CA Prison Resource Packet
  • Sample Repose Letter to Correspondence – From CPF CPF Form Letter
  • Re-Entry Network Guide to Getting Identification While Incarcerated Re-entry Network Guide to Getting Identification While Incarcerated
  • PLI’s Prison Law Trainings (Free Webcasts) http://www.pli.edu/Content/OnDemand/Prison_Law_2014