“I love Los Angeles.  This is my home. We can't continue to cave into institutions built from white supremacy. We all need come forward like JusticeLA has dared to do and imagine a society without cages and make visible the stories of those who are deemed undeserving of justice.”

"The time to reinvest from a broken jail system with a declining population to opportunity and prevention is now.  Let’s create a 21^st century safety net that links innovative job training programs with gainful employment, re-entry support, mental health and drug treatment centers so that we can bring hope and opportunity."

"Los Angeles is one of the greatest cities in the world because of the unique culture, intelligence, enthusiasm and love that Black, Brown and Indigenous people offer--despite surviving through structural poverty and state violence. We want to see Los Angeles appreciate our contributions by spending that $3.5 billion on revamping care and culture in our communities---not on more cages."

"Working on this campaign gives us an opportunity to learn from other cities like New York and their campaign to close Rikers and the Bay Area's successful campaign to stop public money from being spent on more punishment. Los Angeles is a vast and unique county, so we'll learn and innovate new strategies and tactics.  We'll be able to share what we've learned with the next city or county that wants to redirect public monies away from punishment and into supporting the health and wellness of our communities."

"JusticeLA is a growing movement of nonprofits, labor unions, businesses, civil rights organizations, faith-based institutions, artists, research entities and formerly incarcerated youth, women and men committed to challenging Los Angeles' over reliance on punishment. Our plan is simple: let's redirect and reinvest resources into community-based health services and alternatives."

"If substance use treatment had been readily available in my community, my father would not have been incarcerated and my family would not have had to suffer homelessness from losing our primary wage earner.  $3.5 billion dollars invested in community-based alternatives to incarceration can mean that a family like mine stays together.”

This will be the first time in Los Angeles history that groups across sector are coming together to oppose this 3.5 billion dollar jail plan.  Angelenos have the opportunity to build a Los Angeles we can raise our children in. We need our elected officials to protect Black and Brown communities by reinvesting dollars into healthcare, public education and healthy food--not jails and prisons."