The best way to get real-time updates on our work during this COVID-19 crisis, including actions we are asking people to take, is to follow our Facebook page.
Our demands
1) Grant 180-days Good Time to allow everyone within 6 months of going home to get home;
2) Issue medical parole for everyone with respiratory conditions, anyone who is immunocompromised, and anyone over 60 years old;
3) Provide masks and gloves to all staff and incarcerated people who remain; and
4) Create a jail and prison COVID-19 oversight commission under the Office of Public Health and CDC, with the power to interview sick people, enforce basic medical standards, and ensure families have a right to know about the health of their loved ones.
Read our first full demands letter to the Governor from March 26 here, and our second one from March 30 here.
1) Grant 180-days Good Time to allow everyone within 6 months of going home to get home;
2) Issue medical parole for everyone with respiratory conditions, anyone who is immunocompromised, and anyone over 60 years old;
3) Provide masks and gloves to all staff and incarcerated people who remain; and
4) Create a jail and prison COVID-19 oversight commission under the Office of Public Health and CDC, with the power to interview sick people, enforce basic medical standards, and ensure families have a right to know about the health of their loved ones.
Read our first full demands letter to the Governor from March 26 here, and our second one from March 30 here.
Take action
The most effective thing you can do is call is Governor John Bel Edwards at 225-342-0991 using this call script and encourage others to do the same. Keep calling every day until he releases as many people as possible. Our pressure is working, but we have to keep it up. You can also:
The most effective thing you can do is call is Governor John Bel Edwards at 225-342-0991 using this call script and encourage others to do the same. Keep calling every day until he releases as many people as possible. Our pressure is working, but we have to keep it up. You can also:
Experiences of Incarcerated People
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Responses from the System
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Decarceration Efforts
Here are calls to decarcerate from the national medical community, the state's public health community, and New Orleans' medical community and public health community
Here's more than 400 former DOJ staff's call to decarcerate based on their work experiences
Here's the call to decarcerate from Louisiana's Law Enforcement Action Partnership
Here's the call to decarcerate from Louisiana's faith leaders
Here's the call to decarcerate to avoid prison uprisings
Here's the call to decarcerate all of Louisiana's ICE facilities. Effective April 20, a state court ruling made the following mandates of ICE (last page).
Here's the call to decarcerate all of Louisiana's juvenile facilities. Add your name.
Here's the call to decarcerate Orleans Parish Prison, and Sheriff Gusman's request to the Criminal District Court
Here's the call to decarcerate East Baton Rouge Parish Prison
Here's the national decarceration statement from more than 100 justice reform organizations. Add your name.
Here's a round up of decarceration efforts at the local, state and national levels all over the country, with additional actions you can take
Community Resources
Here's a resource guide for coping with COVID-19 in New Orleans, Week of May 4, 2020.
Here's the best place to find resources about employment, education, elections, housing and more at the state level
Here's the best place to find national and local mutual aid resources
To stay connected with your loved ones on the inside, please sign this petition to keep the phone lines open and free.
If you or someone you know is coming home from prison or jail during the COVID-19 crisis, here are some helpful tips, in English and Spanish.
Contact Us
We're here for you. Call us at 504-571-9599 or email at admin@vote-nola.org. We're also in touch with more than 100 people on the inside, and are trying to stay in touch with as many people as possible. If you have a loved one on the inside, tell them to write to us via JPay at admin@vote-nola.org. We'll pay for all correspondences.
Mourning Life
As of April 23, at least seven incarcerated people have died needlessly from COVID inside Louisiana facilities, in addition to at least three prison staff and dozens of other incarcerated people across the country, as seen from the national tracker below. We mourn their lives, and will make sure their deaths are not in vain. Our grief fuels us, and we hope the same for you, too.
