- Jaspreet Johl
- (916) 335-8871
- Jaspreet.Johl@asm.ca.gov
(Sacramento, CA) – Assembly Member Miguel Santiago (D-Los Angeles), Senator María Elena Durazo (D-Los Angeles), and the Coalition for Family Unity hosted a rally to urge the passage of AB 990 which would keep families united throughout incarceration. The bill would reinstate the right to visitation for incarcerated persons so that parents, children, and loved ones can build family bonds despite incarceration.
“Over the last year we’ve learned that spending time with loved ones is priceless; this is a lesson incarcerated persons know all too well because they do not have the right to visit their family,” said Assembly Member Miguel Santiago. “If we really want incarcerated persons and their children to recover and reenter society, we must reinstate the right to in-person visits for incarcerated persons. AB 990 will do just that, thus allowing mothers, fathers, sisters, and brothers to maintain bonds throughout incarceration and ease re-integration post-release.”
“In California we are working to build a justice system that provides individuals the tools to learn from their mistakes, return to their communities, turn the page on their past, and build a better life for themselves,” said Senator Maria Elena Durazo. “That is why we are investing hundreds of millions of dollars to help currently incarcerated men and women get ready with the skills they need. In California we believe in a system of rehabilitation and redemption. AB 990 simply provides a connection to their families. Denying them the ability to see their families helps no one and hurts all of us.”
Kevin McCarthy of Legal Services for Prisoners with Children, the lead organization for the coalition states, “A right is meaningless without a way to enforce it. Currently, CDCR can deny incarcerated people’s rights for any reason related to what they call their legitimate ‘penological interests,’ which can be anything that makes it easier for them to run their prisons. But for 20 years California guaranteed certain rights, including the right to visit, unless it was necessary to curtail the right in order to protect public safety or institutional security. We just want to return to that old law that served Californians well for decades.”
“My child was born in prison and fortunately my mother was able to take him in and raise him, said Angelique Evans, with Young Women’s Freedom Center/All of Us or None. “But my son was never able to come visit me because my mother couldn’t bring him -- CDCR denied her visiting access because she had drug offenses from before I was even born. My son lost out on years of a relationship with his own mother because of CDCR’s unreasonable policies around visiting. AB 990 would stop CDCR from denying visits based on a visitor’s convictions except for serious violations of visiting rules.”
“My application to go visit my son was denied for six months on the ground of fabrication because I left out part of my criminal history,” said Dolores Canales, with California Families to Abolish Solitary Confinement. “They didn’t explain what was left out or how I could rectify the situation. Through my own footwork, I learned that someone had used my name when convicted of a drug offense and I was able to prove the conviction was not mine. Then they denied me because I had three drug convictions that were almost 10 years old, and these convictions had nothing to do with visiting security. In the end, I missed out on visits for more than a year. AB 990 would put a stop to these practices.”
“I see a huge difference in my son when we visit -- his mood is better,” said Edith Chacon, with Homies Unidos LA. “He looks forward to our visits. He doesn’t want me to even get up from my seat in the visiting room to go buy food because he’ll miss out on precious minutes with me. But the prison system makes visiting so difficult. It takes me four hours one way to get to my son’s prison, and then when I arrive I rarely get the full two hours of visiting as promised because of hassles with the guards. Last week, a woman with a walker was ordered to change her clothing twice and ended up with only 15 minutes to visit. We need AB 990 to become law so we have a right to visits and CDCR will stop these unreasonable practices that make visiting so difficult.”
AB 990 will reinstate the right to visitation for incarcerated persons, a right that was in place until the “tough on crime” era of the 1990s. Research shows that regular visits between family members and incarcerated people improve the mental health of the whole family, promote healthy child development, and help incarcerated people endure the stress of prison so they thrive after release. AB 990 will be heard in the Senate Appropriations Committee in late August.
Footage of the press conference can be viewed here.
Assemblymember Miguel Santiago is the Chair of the Assembly Committee on Communications and Conveyance Committee and the Assembly Select Committee on Los Angeles County Homelessness. He also sits on the Assembly Committee on Health, Public Safety, Higher Education and Utilities and Energy. He represents the 53rd District composed of the cities of Los Angeles, Huntington Park, and Vernon.