Source: https://caitlinkellyhenry.com/support/
Timestamp: 2019-04-26 00:11:56+00:00

Document:
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.
*Trainings are weelchair and public transit accessible*.
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.
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.
2. Background on each project, what it does, how to join.
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.
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.
At ACLU, 39 Drumm St, San Francisco, CA 94111 (Ring the buzzer and come up the elevator).
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.
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.
UC Hastings, 198 McAllister St, Room C.
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.
Saturday October 3, 10am-12pm, @ 1201 Martin Luther King Jr, Way, Oakland.
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.
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.
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.
http://cphcs.ca.gov/patient-education.aspx CDCR’s patient care guides that identify and describe potential treatment you can request in advocacy letters. The guides describe clinical practice guidelines on issues such as Diabetes, “Gender Dysphoria,” Hepatitis, and Pain Management.
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.
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.
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.
Abner Dighero-Castaneda. Who experienced seven months of unlawful detention at Yuba County Jail.
Panelists will teach participants about how to conduct legal visits and family/social visits.
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.
Training 4: CDCR Records; How to request, read, and utilize prison C-File, medical, and other records.
Panelists will teach participants why it is important to request records and how to interpret these confusing files for medical advocacy, conditions advocacy, parole and re-sentencing, and other purposes participants bring forward. 2 Hours General CLE.
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.
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.
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.
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.

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