> IFCO/Pastors for Peace is planning a caravan initiative to build the case for
> a change in U.S. prison policy. There are hundreds of groups working on
> various parts of the issue -- slave labor, privatization, the growing prison
> industrial complex, racism, the numbers of children and women --a huge
> increase in the last few years, the continuing criminalization of poverty,
> prison brutality, particularly in the privately owned prisons, the building
> of prisons "on spec" in anticipation that there will be many more prisoners
> in the future in spite of the fact that crime is way down. The official
> figures of unemployment say only 4% of U.S. workers are unemployed. That's
> only eight million. Eight million! And we know those figures represent a
> huge undercount for people of color.
>
> Our first step is to pull together seven meetings of leaders of the various
> prison initiatives nationwide to talk about a common strategy and to get
> their thoughts on how to make some progress. The tentative places for these
> meetings are New York, Chicago, Atlanta, Houston, Denver, Seattle, San
> Francisco and San Diego. If you are working in this area and would like to
> be with us or be placed on our email list for this work, please drop an
> e-mail.
>
>
> Interreligious Foundation for Community Organization (IFCO)
> Pastors for Peace
> 402 W 145th St, NYC 10031
> 212.926-5757; 212.926-5842 <http://www.ifconews.org>