Students Against Mass Incarceration, a San Jose State student group held a protest Friday in front of the Santa Clara County main jail on West Hedding Street, calling for the Santa Clara County board of supervisors to halt the construction of a new prison and reallocate funds to mental health services for current inmates.
Demonstrators chanted phrases including, “Can’t get wellIn a cell!” as they stood at the corner of 100 West Hedding street.
“The construction of the new jail ..has taken away the people's power [because] they voted to [construct] a jail without any public opinion,” said Matthew Ferreira, sociology sophomore and lead SAMI organizer during a Zoom interview.
Santa Clara County’s board of supervisors voted 3-2 on Jan. 25 for the construction of a new prison in place of sections of the Elmwood Correctional facility and the entire Main Jail Complex North, according to a Jan. 25 San Jose Spotlight article.
County supervisors Cindy Chavez and Susan Ellenberg voted no, while supervisors Mike Wasserman, Otto Lee and Joe Simitian voted yes.
The new maximum-security prison will house 500 inmates and is intended to address issues of inhumane living conditions for Santa Clara county inmates, according to the same article.
“This is Silicon Valley, home to an extremely intelligent community,” said Xavier Espanol, member of Silicon Valley De-Bug. “I know we can come up with a better way to use $390 million focusing on care, mental health and inclusion of the people who are continually affected by incarceration.”
McKenzie Owens, global studies senior and lead researcher for SAMI, said the stories of jail-neglect regarding Michael Tyree and Andrew Hogan highlight the inadequate care for inmates with mental illnesses.
Three Santa Clara County correctional officers were charged with Tyree’s murder, according to a Sept. 8, 2015 Santa Clara County press release.
“Andrew Hogan was having a mental health crisis,” Owen said in a Zoom interview. “He was in a transfer van and . . . they didn't do anything as he was banging his head against a wall for over 15 minutes.”
Hogan now suffers from multiple disabilities and is permanently paralyzed, Owens said.
There are 2,543 inmates inside Santa County Jails and about 44%, or 1,109, of them suffer from mental illnesses but in the entire county there are only 247 psychiatric beds available, according to a May 2021 report by Silicon Valley De-Bug.
Silicon Valley De-Bug is a San Jose-based platform focused on advocacy, storytelling and organizing so Silicon Valley community members can affect their communities politically, culturally and socially, according to its website.
“If [inmates] have mental illnesses and that might be a reason why they are in prison, shouldn’t we [address] that instead of just punishing them for it?” said Abraham Perdomo, second year sociology major and SAMI member.
54% of community members surveyed agree that offenders with mental illness should be treated properly rather than incarcerated, found in a report conducted by the W. Haywood Burns Institute.
The W. Haywood Burns Institute is a Black-led non-profit organization aimed at changing the justice system, according to its website.
The recidivism rate, or one’s likelihood to become a repeat offender and return to prison, for inmates with mental illness is 50 to 250% higher than inmates with no mental health conditions, according to a 2014 National Library of Medicine article.
In the same report, 46% of community members surveyed believed that the criminal justice system in Santa Clara county has serious problems.
After the protest, SAMI held a press conference at the Santa Clara County Executive’s Office at noon where speakers included SAMI members, two Silicon Valley pastors and Jeff Moore, former president of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).
“When it came down to the vote on Jan. 25, 2022, the supervisors decided to betray their constituents with a three to two vote in favor of a new maximum security jail,” Perdomo said during the press conference.
Before the vote, Ellenberg presented non-carceral alternatives to the board to reject the construction of a new jail with hopes to find more comprehensive restorative practices, according to a January 24 Santa Clara County press release.
“To supervisor Wasserman, supervisor Lee and supervisor Simitian, we ask: What changed in the year since the supervisors unanimously voted to explore non-carceral alternatives?” Perdomo said.
However, a press release issued by the county of Santa Clara on January 26 stated that building the new jail is a step towards demolishing the older structure of Elmwood Main Jail, and reduces San Jose’s jail capacity from 835 beds at the outdated existing facility to 500 beds.
The press release was issued after the board of supervisors voted to pass Otto Lee’s recommendations that the new facility “provide more comprehensive behavioral health care and expand community-based alternatives to pre-trial incarceration.”
Supervisor Lee called San Jose’s existing jail facility “inhumane,” and said the new facility would focus on rehabilitation and would reduce incarceration of people who are frequently detained due to mental health issues.
Speakers at the Friday protest said in addition to mental health services, funds need to be allocated toward the K-12 education system, where lower quality of education is linked to the rate of incarceration, according to an April 23, 2020 Public School Review article.
In 33 out of the 50 states, states allocated more funds for prisons while funding for K–12 and higher education decreased, according to an April 2011 NAACP report.
“I want to let you know that right now, the lowest performing schools in our neighborhoods have 67% of the inmates inside the jail system,” Moore said.
