Author: nonewyouthjail

Activists and advocates flooded City Hall last Thursday to speak out against the proposed plans to amend Seattle’s land use code to accommodate the construction of a new juvie and court buildings. You can watch the whole video here.

Here’s an article from The Stranger that describes the proceedings.

The movement against the building of the new juvenile jail and courts is picking up steam, and THIS THURSDAY (September 18) at 2 PM we have a critical opportunity to stop the project in its tracks. (If you want a refresher/more background on King County’s youth jail-building project, check out our FAQs).

Although the new juvenile jail is a project of King County, the Seattle City Council gets to vote on the land use components. The Planning, Land Use, and Sustainability committee of the City Council will be hearing from community members about the jail proposal this Thursday from 2 pm – 3 pm at City Hall. We need to let them know WE OPPOSE the building of the new jail and court buildings.

Let’s make it politically impossible for the city council members to help the new jail project move forward. The FIRST step is having a huge showing at this Thursday’s public hearing at 2 PM at 600 4^th Ave. Please see the call-out from YUIR/EPIC/European Dissent below, and spread the word to your networks! The Council needs to see our faces and hear our words to make the right decision. Bring your signs! Bring your friends! Get ready to tell the committee how you feel about caging youth!

RSVP Here to let us know you’re coming: https://www.facebook.com/events/558773890919152/

If you can’t make it in person, please e-mail the members of the planning committee (see sample e-mail below). Here are their addresses to copy/paste: tim.burgess@seattle.gov;nick.licata@seattle.gov; sally.clark@seattle.gov

Thanks for your solidarity!

Washington Incarceration Stops Here (WISH)

Sample e-mail:

Dear Council Members: 

The Planning, Land Use, Sustainability, and Committee should not make it easier for King County to build a facility that targets youth of color, destroys lives, and does not make us safer. Please vote no on CB118202!

Sincerely,

[your name]

We are rapidly approaching a critical opportunity for community members to raise our concerns publicly about the new youth jail.  Youth Undoing Institutional Racism, End the Prison Industrial Complex & European Dissent need YOU to speak out in front of the Seattle City Council THIS WEEK.

PUBLIC HEARING

Thursday, September 18th 2:00 – 3:00pm
600 Fourth Ave. Seattle, WA 98104
City Hall Council Chambers

The Planning, Land Use and Sustainability Committee of the Seattle City Council is holding a hearing to decide whether or not to grant the permits that are needed to build the new youth jail. Up until now, the “community input” that King County has gathered has been from an all White group of neighbors. The current design reflects the cosmetic needs of this group and ignores the voices of those who will be most deeply impacted. Tell the City Council to listen to community and VOTE NO on all youth jail permits.

What can you do?

1. Attend the hearing on Thursday, September 18 from 2:00 – 3:00pmat City Hall and share a 1-2 minute testimony about why you oppose the building permits being issued.
2. If you cannot attend, write a brief statement about why you oppose the building of the new youth jail. E-mail it to
3. Help us with outreach and forward this email widely (flyer attached).

Talking points:

Incarceration harms young people. There are many alternatives to incarceration that have been utilized in other places such as Multnomah County. We should be working towards a future in which caging our children is not necessary rather than continuing to pour money into a broken system.

We need community accountability. Community accountability has been completely lacking during the process of deciding to build and design the new youth jail. Those who are most affected by the juvenile justice system have a critical perspective that has been silenced.

An anti-racist approach is needed. 8% of young people in King County are Black. The current youth jail is 42% Black.  The disproportionality of our current youth jail is the result of systemic racism. The King County jail will continue to incarcerate youth of color at higher rates unless we fundamentally change the system.

**********

The Post-Prison Education Program has signed onto the Points of Unity!

“The goal of the Post-Prison Education Program is to dramatically reduce recidivism by harnessing the power of education and meeting the legitimate needs of former prisoners. Education opens the door to a living wage, clean and sober housing, empowered and responsible living and strengthened families—the most important factors in breaking the intergenerational cycle of poverty and crime, thereby increasing community safety. The Post-Prison Education Program provides access to education and unwavering support through wrap around services including tuition, housing, groceries, daycare and intensive mentoring. The Program’s innovative approach provides extensive outreach in prisons and intensive support post-release.”

We’re very pleased to announce that Palestine Solidarity Committee Seattle has signed the Points of Unity!

The Palestine Solidarity Committee–Seattle supports Palestinians in their struggle for freedom, equal rights and self-determination.  We call for an end to US military and economic aid to Israel while Israel violates international law by engaging in a consistent pattern of gross and systematic human rights abuses against Palestinians. We work to educate the public, the media, and our governmental representatives about Palestine and the role of the US in supporting the Israeli occupation.  PSC is a local support group for the International Solidarity Movement.  We are a non-hierarchical, grassroots, democratic organization and we welcome new members who share our goals.

Thanks to the folks at Prison Policy Initiative for putting together this comprehensive chart on the breakdown of how many people are locked up in the United States.

“This methodology exposes some disturbing facts, particularly about our juvenile justice system. For example, there are almost 15,000 children behind bars whose ‘most serious offense’ wasn’t anything that most people would consider a crime: almost 12,000 children are behind bars for “technical violations” of the requirements of their probation or parole, rather than for a new specific offense. More than 3,000 children are behind bars for ‘status’ offenses, which are, as the U.S. Department of Justice explains: ‘behaviors that are not law violations for adults, such as running away, truancy, and incorrigibility.'”

Equally important to keep in mind are the enormous numbers of people on parole and probation in this country. According to Bureau of Justice statistics, there are 3,981,090 adults on probation, and 851,662 adults on parole.

Early in the morning on Monday, February 24, about 50 immigration activists prevented Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) from deporting an estimated 120 detained immigrants. 10 members of the group–including undocumented immigrants–were prepared to risk arrest (you can read their statements here). You can read more about the action here, and if you speak Spanish, here is a wonderful interview with Maru Mora, one of the lead organizers of the action.

We celebrate this act of brave resistance to the punitive and cruel immigration enforcement system!

This action was part of the ongoing #Not1MoreDeportation Campaign, organized by the National Day Laborer Organizing Network and a myriad of local organizations.

We’re pleased to announce that the Transit Riders Union has joined the many organizations who have signed on to our Points of Unity. With the TRU, 33 groups have signed on! If your group would like to sign on, too, email us at nonewyouthjail@riseup.net.

The Transit Riders Union is “a democratic organization of working and poor people, taking control over our own lives, and building up the power we need to change society for the good of humanity and of the planet. We will fight to preserve, expand, and improve the public transportation system in Seattle and beyond, so that every human being has access to safe, affordable, and reliable public transit.”

Want to make a little noise for the youth locked up on Valentine’s Day? Show up for a Noise Demo!

Where: on the South side of the Juvie on 12th & Spruce

When: Friday, February 14, 8PM -10 PM (but show up at 8 for the most sing-along time)

What: Bring yourself, your friends, your sweetheart(s), your instruments, your voices, your inspiration, your chants, your banners, your songs, your buckets & sticks, your pots & pans, your LOVE

Until further notice, we will be meeting at 173 16th Ave. (just up the hill from WA Hall, on the corner of 17th & Spruce). Meetings will be on Monday nights from 7:30 – 9:00PM.

We will be meeting on 1/20 (MLK Day) after the march and rally at Garfield high school. Hope to see you there!