Covid-19 Action Alerts

Showing Up for Decarceration (From Home)

Please join SURJ San Francisco in pushing California to decarcerate over the next few days -- not months -- to avoid widespread death of inmates and staff. COVID-19 has already hit jails in Los Angeles County and other states, and those being detained are particularly high-risk. Not only do many have underlying health conditions, we know that close quarters and lack of medical care increase their vulnerability to rapidly contracting and spreading this highly contagious virus.


Myriad grassroots organizations are already building this movement, including the Justice Collaborative, Arab Resource & Organizing Center, No New SF Jail Coalition, and many more. This moment, too, provides an important opportunity to concurrently pressure city for more services, such as treatment and housing, and to lay the foundations for long-term visioning.


This week, please help us to amplify coalition demands:

  • Release all people detained in immigration detention centers
  • Release all people detained in county jails
  • Release all people detained in state and federal prisons
  • Halt any expansion of all detention facilities
  • Declare a moratorium on notifications to immigration authorities
  • Shut down 850 Bryant in San Francisco

Keep reading for specific actions you can take. And to learn more about COVID-related decarceration and about prisons and jails in the time of pandemic, check out this action guide from our Direct Action Working Group.

Take Action to Decarcerate Immigrant Detention Facilities

Take Action to Empty Local Jails


Take action to empty state prisons