How to Fight Mass Incarceration and Win

Within the late spring and summer time of 2020, protests for racial justice erupted in response to the police homicide of George Floyd. Mobilizations unfold all through the nation and continued for months, producing what students recognized as arguably the largest wave of mass protest in U.S. historical past.

Nevertheless, as with different surges of in style rebellion, the actions died down over time. At that time, critics claimed that protesters made a lot of noise and drew public consideration however had been unable to translate their discontent into concrete coverage positive aspects. When the second of peak protest handed, these detractors held, the motion disappeared with little to indicate for its efforts. 

This narrative overlooks ongoing organizing efforts which have made vital positive aspects each earlier than and after mass protests captured the highlight. And there are few higher locations to see such organizing in motion than Los Angeles County.

Whereas their work has gotten little nationwide consideration, organizers in L.A. have amassed some spectacular victories. First, in 2019, a coalition towards mass incarceration succeeded in stopping a jail enlargement plan that the county claimed would price $2 billion, however that activists and group leaders charged might drain in extra of $3.5 billion in public funds. Subsequently, grassroots teams steered the work of a county Alternate options to Incarceration Workgroup, which in 2020 produced a set of suggestions that JusticeLA, a coalition of greater than fifty group organizations, unions, and activist teams, called “a groundbreaking roadmap for decarceration and repair enlargement.”

Adopted by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors as official coverage in 2020, the Care First, Jails Final agenda includes a detailed set of suggestions that “intention to offer therapy and companies to these in want, as an alternative of arrest and jail.” Amongst them are mandates to dramatically reduce money bail, broaden implementation of community-based hurt discount methods, channel funding to packages for at-risk youth, set up pretrial companies in extremely impacted communities to switch law-enforcement supervision, present beds for these launched from jail who’re in want of interim or supportive housing, and create pressing care facilities to offer trauma-informed psychological healthcare all through the county.

To be sure that these insurance policies would really be carried out — and that funds shortfalls wouldn’t be used as an excuse for stonewalling — activists secured a funding stream that’s set to channel lots of of tens of millions of {dollars} annually towards alternatives-to-incarceration initiatives. Within the wake of the George Floyd mobilizations, organizers efficiently pushed for the passage of Measure J, requiring that 10 % of the county’s unrestricted normal funds be invested in implementing the agenda. In precept, this might translate to nicely over $300 million yearly. Vox called it “maybe probably the most important victory for the police reform motion since [the] summer time’s protests.”

Little doubt, the wins to this point are solely partial ones. Activists have been compelled to struggle towards each bureaucratic intransigence and authorized challenges from deputy sheriffs. In March, they issued a report card to county directors filled with failing grades, accusing these officers of falling wanting their commitments. Court docket rulings impeded the preliminary implementation of Measure J, though activists have since pushed the county to honor the funding necessities. Despite all of the difficulties, the mannequin put forth by grassroots teams in L.A. holds real promise, representing an effort to essentially reorient the county’s strategy to public security and care.

Lex Steppling, a native of Los Angeles and Nationwide Director of Organizing for Dignity & Energy Now, has been current all through these battles. His group has been on the core of coalition drives to stress officers for change from the surface — and in addition to have interaction with the county in its inside processes to craft and implement new insurance policies. Amongst different associated efforts, Dignity & Energy Now’s a part of the chief committee of the JusticeLA coalition. We not too long ago spoke with Steppling in regards to the mannequin popping out of L.A. County and the importance of native organizing to advance racial justice and oppose mass incarceration for individuals in different elements of the nation. Our dialog has been edited for size and readability.

Mark Engler: If we had been to make a timeline, what would you say was the primary large marketing campaign within the present drive towards mass incarceration right here? Was it stopping L.A. County’s plan for jail enlargement? 

Lex Steppling: Timelines are troublesome as a result of nothing has a start line. Our organizing is all the time drawing off generational work. Los Angeles performs a actually vital position in abolition conversations. We go all the way in which again to George Jackson [the author of Soledad Brother], and to what got here earlier than him. The origin tales of the fashionable dialog round abolition in some methods began with him. That generational lineage could be very contemporary right here. 

Plus, the postmodern model of mass incarceration we see at this time was first workshopped in L.A.: SWAT groups, the militarization of police, insurance policies like “three strikes,” gang databases and injunctions — the entire legacy of Daryl Gates [LAPD chief from 1978 to 1992], and previous to him William Parker [LAPD chief from 1950 to 1966]. 

However sure, the current condensed coverage timeline began with us stopping the jail plan by means of the JusticeLA marketing campaign. They had been going to construct a number of jails. Between 2018 and 2020, we had been stopping all of it. We had been ready to try this by means of grassroots energy, collective stress, and having an alternate imaginative and prescient. The Alternate options to Incarceration Workgroup got here out of that.

Usually, once you put stress on a native authorities towards one thing they wish to do, they’ll say, “Nicely, what are we presupposed to do as an alternative?” It’s like, “You guys are solely good at diagnosing the issue, not determining what to do.”

We anticipated that and developed a very complete plan round what you would do as an alternative of increasing the most important jail system on the earth. We put collectively the Los Angeles County Decarceration Report, and we published two editions of that report. Once we did cease the jail plan — which was a large and profound win that nobody thought was doable, as a result of the enlargement plan had already been put in movement — the county moved ahead with a workgroup inviting all of the stakeholders to develop an agenda round what we do as an alternative of constructing these jails. And we had been prepared. 

I don’t know whether or not their intentions with this workgroup had been good or not, however it really grew to become a wonderful instance of how civic democracy can work in a participatory context. As a result of everyone got here to the desk — not simply us, not simply individuals from the group, [but opponents as well].

Paul Engler: After I take a look at the alternate options to incarceration program, I’m shocked by all of the teams and people which have signed on to it. It ranges all the way in which from abolitionists to very mainstream individuals. 

Steppling: It speaks to the truth that we mobilized a greater base than anybody else. We primarily overwhelmed the county with a important mass of well-informed individuals. And nothing we had been saying didn’t make sense. We welcomed them to attempt to inform us the place we had been fallacious. Each evaluation that we put forth, each demand that we put forth, we had vetted it. We knew that we needed to be accountable for all the pieces we had been saying. 

Native governments attempt to use suppose tanks and the marketing consultant class to counter your imaginative and prescient. In L.A. County, they tried to try this with the RAND Company. However then RAND issued a study that echoed what we stated — which was that you would be able to lower the jail inhabitants in half by means of complete diversion programming, and it’ll have higher public security outcomes.

In creating our imaginative and prescient, many people locally had been ready draw on issues we knew had labored earlier than. For instance, I drew on my experiences from the mid-to-late ’90s, once we noticed a bunch of public well being and public security enhancements. Through the HIV disaster, a lot of assets, comparatively talking, got here into the group by means of public well being grants. A few of them discovered their approach into the palms of native community-based service suppliers, and a lot of dynamic programming got here out of it. You had free clinics, complete intercourse ed, outreach to intercourse staff, and real hurt discount well being companies, the place individuals might go and get the care they wanted with out being judged. And also you had youth programming that saved my life. 

I didn’t end faculty. The final grade that I completed was the tenth grade, and I was out alone for a variety of causes. I was in a position to get a job on the L.A. free clinic to work with different “at-risk” youth. At sixteen or seventeen years previous, I grew to become a licensed HIV counselor and labored with different younger individuals to develop our personal curriculum to show individuals locally about security. We transitioned a few of that into doing neighborhood peace work, working intergenerationally to assist cease the violence. All these dynamic approaches had been occurring whether or not the federal government or the nonprofit well being funders realized it. And as a end result, you had service clusters, you had drop-in facilities, you had scientific areas, you had housing packages, and also you had job coaching packages, all achieved in a very unconditional approach. It wasn’t punitive. 

I noticed individuals coming by means of our packages having a lot success. However I additionally noticed that my members of the family and associates who had been going by means of the court docket system had been having horrible outcomes. I realized it was easy: those that had been dealing with the identical threat components as individuals getting incarcerated, however who had been getting therapy and companies in ways in which had been set other than the court docket system, had been having success. These going by means of the court docket system had been not. 

That was apparent to these of us who’ve been impacted by these methods by advantage of the place we’ve lived. We knew that the system of regulation enforcement didn’t care about success; it cared about punishment. It cared in regards to the mass corralling of individuals. In distinction, these public well being fashions care about security and well being.

When the Alternate options to Incarceration course of began, we took a lot of that perspective and primarily tried to pressure it into the workgroup’s suggestions. Within the final recommendations, a lot of what I simply shared with you is in actually the primary pages of the report. That was one thing we had been conspicuously in a position to muscle in, as a result of there was no actual logic towards it. And the suggestions handed in full as a result of the county felt the stress from the group.

Paul Engler: It looks as if Dignity & Energy Now and the opposite progressive forces within the workgroup had been in a position to get all of the civil society teams to coalesce and have some alignment round your imaginative and prescient.

Steppling: That’s a great way of placing it. There was a coalescing between the civil society forces and the abolitionists round a imaginative and prescient. And it was as a result of that imaginative and prescient was undeniably the proper course. There have been extra average individuals within the room, and I all the time would say to them, “There’s a approach ahead, and there’s a approach backward, however there’s no approach round this.” To be frank, if we had allow them to dictate the course, we might have gone again towards the middle. So we held a line: “If anyone tries to water down what we’re doing, we’ll maintain you accountable. As a result of we now have no selection.”

We might solely do all that as a result of we had the 2 editions of our report laying out a very granular plan. Whether or not truthful or not, we needed to have solutions for all the pieces. So we spent a lot of time creating that. The county used the time period “stakeholders,” however we might not have even been thought-about a stakeholder if we had not compelled our approach into the room by advantage of being the one ones who really designed one thing. 

A part of how we had been in a position to be a part of the governance course of was by having very intentional conversations internally. That is all the time a difficult factor to do in an activist group — to say, “We’re not going to simply do the protest stuff that they anticipate us to do. We’re not going to simply shut it down.” We needed to say, “We’re constructing one thing. We’re creating one thing, and it must be collaborative.”

However there’s a distinction between collaboration and negotiation. We stated, “There isn’t a negotiation. We won’t settle for something however these calls for, however there shall be collaboration, as a result of we now have to get there collectively.” The one approach you obtain that’s by overwhelming them with pressure. However it must be a constructive pressure. To play the within recreation, we let the county take credit score for a factor that we developed and wrote — the suggestions are actually primarily based off of our two decarceration studies. You need the county to really feel a sense of proprietary vitality, as a result of then they’re extra prone to carry it out.

The tag line for the coverage suggestions grew to become “Care First, Jails Final.” On the group aspect, we might have stated, “Care First, Jails By no means.” However should you learn the suggestions, it’s primarily an abolitionist imaginative and prescient. 

Thoughts you, we needed to be very tactful as a result of we additionally had the sheriffs within the room. We had the probation division within the room. I was typically the one requested to go sit on the desk with the sheriffs. That was a actually attention-grabbing expertise, creating this alongside them. 

Paul Engler: In a lot of different cities, we see efforts to take small bites out of the difficulty of legal justice reform — for instance, bail reforms, or decreasing sentences for nonviolent offenses, or therapy of juveniles, or “ban the box” campaigns. However your strategy appears to be totally different, in that it unifies these totally different points right into a single marketing campaign with a widespread imaginative and prescient.

Steppling: I discovered one thing a very long time in the past, once I stepped into this extra nonprofit, legal justice reform world. I encountered this professionalized model of advocacy, and I felt fairly horrified at a few issues. One was the siloing of the problems. Saying, “Okay, we’re simply doing bail reform. We’re not speaking about these different issues.” 

We’ve to inform individuals the reality. And the reality is that the problems are unified. One doesn’t exist with out the opposite. We will shut as many brick-and-mortar jails as we would like. However all we’re going to do is pave the way in which for them to construct new jails if we don’t tie it to the insurance policies that feed jails. And the insurance policies that feed jails then should be tied to the insurance policies that feed poverty, and so forth — in order that we’re together with not simply the financial justice dialog, but additionally one which talks about trauma, that talks about what household separation really appears to be like like and the disruption it causes in communities. 

I’ve all the time felt just like the phrase “radical” is usually a canard. A lot of what we demand is admittedly wise. It’s solely “radical” in relationship to the established order. And the established order is definitely what’s radical. A system of mass punishment and brutality — to me that’s radical; that’s the laborious line.

I feel the abolitionist imaginative and prescient could be very wise, as a result of it’s about fashions of well-functioning civic life. It’s about precise security. 

Mark Engler: In lots of conditions, progressives may attempt to win a coverage change however go away it to the politicians to determine find out how to fund it. Within the case of Measure J, you went immediately after the cash. How did you land on that technique?

Steppling: Measure J was a type of addendum to Alternate options to Incarceration. It was developed to make sure — or at the least strive to make sure — that they wouldn’t have the ability to use austerity as an excuse to not implement the suggestions. 

Measure J was a actual stroke of genius on the a part of [Dignity & Power Now colleague Ivette Alé]. Ivette noticed a chance: On the county stage in California, we now have a poll measure system. Often it requires signature gathering, which takes a lot of money and time. However the County Board of Supervisors also can put one thing on the poll by advantage of a movement. And so we wrote a movement saying, “We would like L.A. County’s discretionary funds to be protected against regulation enforcement, to allow them to’t dip into it. And we would like 20 % of that discretionary funds, yearly in perpetuity, to go to funding the ATI suggestions.”

The supervisors got here again to us and had been like, “That’s insane.”

However we didn’t let up. We requested for 20 % realizing that they may say it was utterly unattainable. However to us, all the pieces’s doable. We ended up getting 10 % of L.A. County’s discretionary funds right into a measure, which for us was nonetheless a huge factor. On common, it’s about half a billion {dollars} per 12 months. And we acquired them to place it on the poll. 

They didn’t do it as a result of they appreciated us. They did it as a result of we had them cornered, and since we had mobilized a important mass. This was proper earlier than the pandemic. Even then, we had been anticipating them creating an austerity narrative to not fund the imaginative and prescient they simply agreed to. After which the individuals selling Measure J grew to become their very own coalition, as a result of teams such because the United Manner reached out to us eager to assist. 

Mark Engler: Are you able to clarify why this discretionary pool of cash is so vital? 

Steppling: The insurance policies of how budgets work really feel very conspicuously designed to take company away from communities. It’s one of many ways in which they restrict democracy, or the facility of democratic mandates. 

The county wished to do a jail enlargement that we argued would have price $3.5 billion. So early on in JusticeLA, we went to individuals and requested, “What might you do as an alternative with that $3.5 billion?” It’s all the time a good train for individuals to consider what we must always really be investing in. 

However the actuality is that these billions that had been earmarked for the jail enlargement plan can’t legally be taken and simply put into colleges, for instance. There are capital development legal guidelines in California which can be complicated and really troublesome to get info on. So far as public {dollars} are involved, it’s simpler in California to construct a jail than it’s to construct a library- – and even to construct a stadium or a shopping center. 

Discretionary cash on the county stage is among the few locations the place there’s extra flexibility. It’s as much as the county to resolve what to spend it on. A lot of occasions, they don’t spend it in any respect. They only attempt to develop a surplus. So we stated, “Out of that discretionary funds, you’ll be able to simply discover the cash to fund Alternate options to Incarceration.” The service clusters and scientific areas we want, the youth growth work that saved my life — all that may be funded with the discretionary funds. 

Paul Engler: It looks as if a lot of your work has not simply been about getting these adjustments handed, however about getting them applied as soon as they’ve already been adopted as coverage. And that has concerned preventing inertia and taking over authorities bureaucracies which can be not excited to hold out the adjustments.

Steppling: We’ve needed to deal a lot with the county CEO’s workplace. It’s a very bureaucratically oriented workplace that doesn’t appear to face the identical stress as politicians. In some methods, we allow them to off the hook for about six months once we had been embedded on the within — as a result of we thought we had been working with them in good religion to develop the ins and outs of how the coverage was going to be applied. After which when it was time to implement it, we noticed that they didn’t wish to. This included not solely Measure J, but additionally issues like closing Males’s Central Jail, or implementing our mannequin for unbiased pretrial companies that don’t depend on regulation enforcement. They’re dragging their ft on that now, too.

You encounter limitations in native authorities the place they’re afraid to do issues that go towards how they’ve been educated to manage. It’s exterior of their consolation zone, exterior of how they’ve been taught to do that. They agree with us that Measure J is nice, but there’s nonetheless inertia. Typically we work with them to engineer issues completely, after which they nonetheless don’t do it. 

Working in good religion on the within labored very well with the Alternate options to Incarceration suggestions. With implementation, it didn’t work as nicely. To me, that has to do with the truth that our exterior recreation acquired diluted a bit. 

There’s that nice saying, “Don’t confuse entry with affect.” Upon getting constant, efficient entry to the within, generally of us get confused. And that’s the place a lot of stuff goes fallacious. Simply since you’re inside doesn’t imply shit. The within recreation is simply so useful. You must all the time have a sturdy presence on the surface. And that’s the place I come from, politically.

Paul Engler: For those who had been to take inventory of the stuff you’ve gained and attempt to describe them for individuals exterior of Los Angeles, what would you say?

Steppling: The truth that we stopped the jail plan in lower than a 12 months is wonderful — not to mention that we developed the visions that at the moment are in place. Alternate options to Incarceration is in place. Our imaginative and prescient for pretrial companies is permitted. Measure J handed by a big margin An earlier poll measure — Measure R, giving subpoena energy to the Sheriff’s Civilian Oversight Fee [in investigating complaints against the Sheriff’s Department] — handed by greater than 70 %. We’re doing work round coroner accountability, and a big report simply got here out from UCLA. I might go on and on. It’s virtually like there have been too many wins for us to even articulate.

After which there’s the place our minds are at day in and time out. I know that once we discuss to activists, a lot of occasions it’s solely destructive, as a result of they discuss their frustrations. I don’t really feel that approach; I don’t really feel destructive about any of this. I strive to ensure I’m all the pieces truthfully, neither glass half empty or glass half full. 

For me it’s all the time, “How can we be sure that we’re politically evolving, each drawing on historical past and in anticipation of what’s coming? We’ve encountered the restrictions of 1 type of collaborative relationship with native authorities. What new methods can we develop to make that collaboration higher, whereas additionally reminding ourselves that the surface has to nonetheless be probably the most sturdy pressure in all of this?”

A few of the folks that I respect probably the most get slowed down on the within generally. And it’s as a result of they actually wish to make it work. It’s straightforward to neglect that the one motive we gained within the first place was that we overwhelmed them from the surface. The within recreation solely exists due to the surface recreation. 

Analysis help offered by Akin Olla and Celeste Pepitone-Nahas.

This story was first posted at Dissent.