Proposition L is for Legalized Lies and Liars - Prop L Press Conference

Proposition L is for Legalized Lies and Liars

Poverty Scholars, Advocates, legislators and community members tell the truth about a rarely spoken about ballot proposition which will incarcerate people for the sole act of being poor.

What: Prop L Press conference and Truth Commission

Where: In Front of San Francisco City Hall

When: 9:00 am Monday, October 27th

“No matter how many times you put me in jail for being homeless, my family and I will still be homeless”, said Teresa Zamora, mother of three, who has been cited for sleeping in her car with her family and under Prop L’s Community Justice Court(CJC) will face more citations, court dates and arrests.

Popularly referred to as a "Poverty Court" , the Community Justice Center is modeled after the notoriously cruel mid-manhatten court. This NY court targets poor people in an area where the largest and richest corporate headquarters are towering above, and who get free labor as an added bonus. The only poor faces to be seen in mid-manhatten today are sweeping the streets as a "community service" for the crime of being too poor to afford a place to live.

"Proposition L’s CJC is another manifestation of the criminalization of poverty and poor people of color that was tried out in New York under Giuliani as a way to penalize people for the sole act of being poor,” said Lisa Gray-Garcia, author of Criminal of Poverty, Growing Up Homeless in America, and Executive Director of POOR Magazine

It is a crime to be poor in the US. Sleeping outside or in a vehicle, soliciting employment, convening in a public space and/or suffering in public from a mental illness are citable offenses. This results in more and more poor families, youth, elders and adults in this country facing police harassment, abuse and even incarceration for living in poverty. Proposition L’s CJC will use 2.5 million dollars of a cash strapped City budget adjudicating crimes of poverty.

This SF version of the court would need at least 4 - 8 new deputies, a judge, sheriff transportation to and from jail, court reporter, and of course a lease on an expensive new building. All within walking distance of the existing court house at 850 Bryant. And on top of the many specialized courts and under utilized community courts that already exist.