PRISON LAW OFFICE
The California Prisoner and Parole Law Handbook (2019)
Covering a wide range of subjects, this guide provides a summary of the law pertaining to prisoners and parolees. Includes sample pleadings and forms.
Cost: available to download free online at www.prisonlaw.com Prisoners and parolees; non prisoners or parolees for Handbook and Supplement- Price is $20 for people in custody/on parole and $200 for others; prices include tax, shipping, handling. The Handbook is available from:
Prison Law Office General Delivery
San Quentin, CA 94964
Other Prison Law Office manuals include:
• How to File an Administrative Appeal (English and Spanish)
• Requesting Investigations of Staff Misconduct and Conditions of Confinement Problems (English and Spanish)
• Rights Regarding Prison Disciplinary Proceedings (English and Spanish)
• Rights of Prisoners in Administrative Segregation (English and Spanish)
• Information on New Classification Regulations
• Information Re: Improper or Unlawful Use of Force by CDCR Staff (English and Spanish)
• Security Threat Group (Gang) Validation, Placement and Debriefing (English and Spanish)
• The HIV and AIDS in Prison Handbook
• Valley Fever Information for Prisoners
• State Habeas Corpus Manual (English and Spanish)
• Lawsuits for Money Damages Against Prison Officials Manual (English and Spanish)
• Parolee Rights Manual (English and Spanish)
• Youthful Offender Parole Hearings
• Benefits to Paroling and Discharging Inmates Information Re: California’s Three Strikes Law (English and Spanish)
The above manuals are available free, online at www.prisonlaw.org or by writing:
Prison Law Office
General Delivery
San Quentin, CA 94964
OTHER PUBLISHERS
Compassionate Release for Terminally Ill and Permanently Medically Incapacitated People in California Prisons: The Nuts and Bolts Manual for Winning Compassionate Release
Available by writing:
Justice Now
1322 Webster St., Suite 210
Oakland CA 94612
www.jnow.org
The Jailhouse Lawyer’s Handbook: How to Bring a Federal Lawsuit to Challenge Violations of Your Rights in Prison, Fifth Edition, 2010
Published by the Center for Constitutional Rights and the National Lawyers Guild
Available free online at www.jailhouselaw.org or by writing:
National Lawyers Guild, National Office
132 Nassau St., Room 922
New York, NY 10038
A Jailhouse Lawyer’s Manual, 11th Edition, 2017
Published by Columbia Human Rights Law Review, which also publishes a supplement to this manual called the “Immigration & Consular Access Supplement”
Cost: Prisoners: Manual-$30.00, Supplement- $5; Non-prisoners or institutions: Manual- $100, Supplement- $20
Order forms are available at www3.law.columbia.edu/hrlr/jlm/order/ or by writing:
Columbia Human Rights Law Review
435 West 116th St.
New York, NY 10027
Also available for free online at www3.law.columbia.edu/hrlr/jlm/toc/
Outsiders Looking In: How to Keep From Going Crazy When Someone You Love Goes to Jail
By Toni Weymouth and Maria Telesco
OLINC Publishing
ISBN-10: 1891261401
ISBN-13: 978-1891261404
PARC Prisoner Support Directory
Available free at www.prisonactivist.org resources:
Prison Activist Resource Center
PO Box 70447
Oakland, CA 94612
Prison Legal News
www.prisonlegalnews.org
Subscriptions available by visiting website or writing:
PO Box 1151
Lake Worth, FL 33460
Prisoner Diabetes Handbook
Available free online at www.splcenter.org or free to prisoners by writing:
Southern Poverty Law Center
400 Washington Ave.
Montgomery, AL 36104
The Prisoners’ Assistance Directory, 18th Edition, 2012
Published by the National Prison Project of the ACLU
Available free online at
www.aclu.org/files/assets/2012_prisoners_assistance_directory.pdf or by writing:
National Prison Project
915 15th St., N.W., 7th Floor
Washington, D.C. 20005
Prisoners’ Self-Help Litigation Manual, Fourth Edition, 2010
By John Boston and Daniel Manville
Oxford University Press
ISBN-10: 0195374401
ISBN-13: 978-0195374407
Protecting Your Health and Safety:A Litigation Guide for Inmates
Published by the Southern Poverty Law Center
Available by mailing a $16 check or money order payable to "Prison Legal News" to:
Prison Legal News
PO Box 2420
West Brattleboro, VT 05303
Resource Guide for Teens with a Parent in Prison or Jail
Published by Project WHAT!
Cost: Free for youth; $5 for all other individuals or groups
Available online at www.communityworkswest.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/projectwhat2008.pdf or at:
Community Works West
110 Broadway
Oakland, CA 94607
San Francisco Bay View National Black Newspaper
www.sfbayview.com
Subscriptions available by visiting website or by writing:
4917 Third St.
San Francisco, CA 94124
A Young Mother’s Guide to Surviving the System
Available free online at www.f2f.ca.gov/res/pdf/itsmylife.pdf or by writing:
Young Women’s Freedom Center
832 Folsom Street, Suite 700
San Francisco, CA 94107
A New Way of Life
A New Way of Life Reentry Project is a non-profit organization that provides housing and reentry support to formerly incarcerated women and their children. A New Way of Life operates four sober living homes serving 40-50 women and children per year, and offers a wide range of support services to help facilitate a successful transition back to community life.
PO Box 875288
Los Angeles, CA 90087
Ph: (323) 563-3575
www.anewwayoflife.org
A Time for Change
Since 2002 the Time for Change Foundation has operated a homeless shelter for women recovering from the effects of mental and physical abuse, substance abuse and incarceration. They provide housing, food, clothing and supportive services to women in need.
PO Box 25040
San Bernardino, CA 92406
Ph: (909) 886-2994
www.timeforchangefoundation.org
Action Committee for Women in Prison
The mission of ACWP is to advocate for the humane and compassionate treatment of all incarcerated women everywhere. They work for the release of all women who are unjustly imprisoned, and strive to reduce the over-reliance on incarceration.
769 Northwestern Dr.
Claremont, CA 91711
Ph: (626) 710-7543
www.acwip.net
ACLU Prisoner Rights Project
National branch of the ACLU involved in impact litigation regarding conditions of confinement.
125 Broad Street, 18th Floor
New York NY 10004
Ph: (212) 549-2500
www.aclu.org/issues/prisoners-rights?redirect=prison
American Friends Service Committee
A Quaker organization devoted to service, development, and peace programs, including a special focus on prisons. AFSC opposes maximum security prisons, lockdowns and the death penalty, and works to improve prison conditions.
1501 Cherry Street,
Philadelphia, PA 19102
Ph: (215) 241-7000
www.afsc.org
All Of Us Or None
All of Us Or None (AOUON) is a national organizing initiative of incarcerated, formerly incarcerated and convicted people fighting the discrimination they face as the result of felony convictions through community outreach initiatives and campaigns for human and civil rights.
4400 Market Street
Oakland, CA 94608
Ph: (415) 255-7036 x 337
www.allofusornone.org
Barrios Unidos
The mission of Barrios Unidos is to prevent and curtail violence among youth within Santa Cruz County by providing them with life-enhancing alternatives. Over the past 25 years Barrios Unidos has developed a model that seeks to reclaim and restore the lives of struggling youth while promoting unity amongst families and neighbors through community building efforts.
1817 Soquel Ave.
Santa Cruz, CA 95062
Ph: (831) 457-8208
www.barriosunidos.net
Books Not Bars
Books Not Bars, a project of the Ella Baker Center in Oakland, is a statewide campaign aiming to shut down California’s abusive and costly youth prisons and replace them with alternatives that work, like regional rehabilitation centers and community-based programs.
1970 Broadway, Suite 450
Oakland, CA 94612
Ph: (510) 428-3939
contact@ellabakercenter.org
www.ellabakercenter.org
California Coalition for Women Prisoners
CCWP is a grassroots racial justice organization that challenges the institutional violence imposed on women and communities of color by prisons and the criminal justice system. It is building a movement with women prisoners, family members of prisoners, and the larger communities through organizing, leadership development, and political education.
4400 Market Street
Oakland, CA 94608
Ph: (415) 255-7036 x 304
info@womenprisoners.org
www.womenprisoners.org
California Families to Abolish Solitary Confinement
California Families to Abolish Solitary Confinement (CFASC) is dedicated to stopping the inhumane treatment of prisoners within the California Penal System, especially those held in solitary confinement. Their ultimate goal is to end the use of solitary confinement; their short-term goals are to reduce its use and to insist on due process and fairness.
c/o FACTS Education Fund
1137 E. Redondo Blvd.
Inglewood, CA 90302
Ph: Geri (424) 744-1156 or Dolores (714) 290-9077
www.abolishsolitary.com
California Prison Focus
California Prison Focus is an organization working to stop human rights violations, improve medical care and end long-term isolation in California prisons.
4408 Market Street, Suite A
Oakland, CA 94608
Ph: (510) 836-7222
contact@prisons.org
www.prisons.org
Center for Constitutional Rights
Dedicated to advancing and protecting the rights guaranteed by the United States Constitution and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
666 Broadway, 7th Floor
New York, NY 10012
Ph: (212) 614-6464
ccrjustice.org
Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice
CJCJ provides direct service, technical assistance and policy research in the field of juvenile and criminal justice. They have a number of different diversion and independent living programs and publications available.
424 Guerrero Street, Suite A
San Francisco, CA 94110
Ph: (415) 621-5661
info@cjcj.org
www.cjcj.org
Centerforce
The Centerforce mission is to support, educate, and advocate for individuals, families and communities impacted by incarceration. Centerforce provides services for prisoners, former prisoners, and family members of prisoners through direct services, its annual conference, and through consultation and training for government agencies, community-based organizations, and correctional facilities across the country and internationally.
1904 Franklin Street, Suite 418
Oakland, CA 94612
Ph: (510) 834-3457
www.centerforce.org
Critical Resistance
Critical Resistance is a national prison abolition organization that seeks to build an international movement to end the Prison Industrial Complex by challenging the belief that caging and controlling people makes us safe. Instead, they work to build safe and healthy communities, where the basics are provided, such as food, shelter, and self-determination. They also work to create and promote alternatives to the current system.
1904 Franklin St., Suite 504
Oakland, CA 94612
Ph: (510) 444-0484
www.crnational@critialresistance.org
www.criticalresistance.org
Californians United for a Responsible Budget (CURB)
An alliance of organizations concerned with state budget priorities and dedicated to reducing the number of prisons and prisoners in California.
Ph: (213) 864-8931
info@curbprisonspending.org
Death Penalty Focus
1555 River Park Drive, Suite 105,
Sacramento, CA 95815
Ph: (415) 243-0143
information@deathpenalty.org
Drug Policy Alliance
Fights for drug policies based on science, compassion, health and human rights.
California – San Francisco Bay Area
1330 Broadway Suite 1426
Oakland, CA 94612
contact@drugpolicy.org
Families Against Mandatory Minimums
National organization working to reform federal and state mandatory minimum sentencing laws.
1100 H Street NW, Suite 1000
Washington, D.C. 20005
Ph: (202) 822-6700
Families with a Future
FWAF is a network of everyday people interested in minimizing the damaging effects when a parent goes to prison. They recognize the tremendous pain children suffer when they lose a parent to prison, and their mission is to render support to families and their children, specifically with transportation for children to visit their incarcerated parents.
P.O. Box 12591
San Francisco, CA 94112
Ph: (415) 999-8084
Friends Outside
Friends Outside is a volunteer-run organization that assists prisoners and their families by acting as an intermediary between the family, the prisoner, and the criminal justice system. They help prisoners and their families locate community resources, and provide regular support groups for formerly incarcerated people. They staff hospitality trailers at every California prison. Friends Outside case managers inside the prisons work directly with prisoners.
PO Box 4085
Stockton, CA 95204
Ph: (209) 955-0701
www.friendsoutside.org
Inmate Family Council
Each prison has an Inmate Family Council, composed of family members of prisoners at that prison, who meet regularly to discuss issues that pertain to family members and visitors. The names of IFC members and an IFC suggestion box can be found in visiting areas. A statewide Family Council consists of 10 members who meet quarterly at CDCR head-quarters in Sacramento to discuss issues of concern.
Just Detention International
Just Detention International is a health and human rights organization that seeks to end sexual abuse inside all detention facilities.
3325 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 340
Los Angeles, CA 90010
Ph: (213) 384-1400
info@justdetention.org
www.justdetention.org
Justice Now
Justice Now is a prison abolition organization that provides legal services and support to women prisoners and works with prisoners and their families on political education and health campaigns with the goal of building a world without prisons.
1322 Webster St., Suite 210
Oakland, CA 94612
Ph: (510) 839-7654
www.jnow.org
Legal Services for Prisoners with Children
LSPC organizes communities impacted by the criminal justice system and advocates to release incarcerated people, to restore human and civil rights and to reunify families and communities. We build public awareness of structural racism in policing, the courts and prison system and we advance racial and gender justice in all our work. Our strategies include legal support, trainings, advocacy, public education, grassroots mobilization and developing community partnerships.
4400 Market Street
Oakland, CA 94608
Ph: (415) 255-7036
www.prisonerswithchildren.org
Life Support Alliance
LSA is an advocacy organization based in the Sacramento area that works to change the parole system that denies parole to prisoners serving life sentences. Its newsletter and website provide valuable information for families of lifers.
P.O. Box 277
Rancho Cordova, CA 95741
Ph: (916) 402-3750 or (916) 743-1654
lifesupportalliance@gmail.com
www.lifesupportalliance.org
National Advocates for Pregnant Women (NAPW)
An organization that works to secure the human and civil rights, health and welfare of all women, focusing particularly on pregnant and parenting women, and those who are most vulnerable – low income women, women of color, and drug-using women.
875 6th Avenue, Suite 1807
New York, NY 10001
Ph: (212) 255-9252
www.advocatesforpregnantwomen.org
Prison Activist Resource Center
PARC provides progressive and radical news and other information about prisons and the prison
prosecution system.
PO Box 70447
Oakland, CA 94612
Ph: (510) 893-4648
www.prisonactivist.org
Prison Law Office
The Prison Law Office is a public interest law firm protecting the constitutional rights of prisoners. With a small staff of attorneys and support personnel, the Prison Law Office represents individual prisoners, engages in class action and other impact-litigation, educates the public about prison conditions, and provides technical assistance to attorneys throughout the US.
1917 5th Street
Berkeley, CA 94710
Ph: (510) 280-2621
www.prisonlaw.org
Prisoner Hunger Strike Solidarity Coalition
PHSS is a statewide coalition of grassroots organizations and community members based in the Bay Area. It is committed to amplifying the voices of and supporting the prisoners at Pelican Bay & other CA prisons who have gone on hunger strikes to protest long-term solitary confinement.
prisonerhungerstrikesolidarity@gmail.com
For media inquiries call: (510) 444-0484
www.prisonerhungerstrikesolidarity.wordpress.com
Prisoner’s Literature Project
Prisoner’s Literature Project is an all-volunteer project that sends free books to prisoners all over the United States.
c/o Bound Together Books
1369 Haight St.
San Francisco, CA 94117
Ph: (510) 893-4648
www.prisonactivist.org/plp/
Project WHAT!
Project WHAT! raises awareness about the impacts of parental incarceration on children, with the long-term goal of improving services and policies that affect these children.
110 Broadway
Oakland, CA 94607
Ph: (510) 268-8116
f: (510) 268-8132
info@communityworkswest.org
www.communityworkswest.org/index.php/project-what
San Francisco Children of Incarcerated Parents Partnership
SFCIPP is a coalition of social service providers, representatives of government bodies, advocates and others who work with or are concerned about children of incarcerated parents and their families. They have created a “Bill of Rights for Children of Incarcerated Parents.”
1569 Solano Ave. #293
Berkeley, CA 94707
Ph: (415) 819-0337
Sfcipp.info@gmail.com
www.sfcipp.org
Solitary Watch
Solitary Watch is a web-based project aimed at providing the public with the first centralized source of unfolding news, original reporting, firsthand accounts, and background research on solitary confinement in the United States.
www.solitarywatch.com/
Transgender, Gender Variant and Intersex Justice Project
TGIJP’s mission is to challenge and end the human rights abuses committed against transgender, gender variant/gender queer and intersex (TGI) people in California prisons. TGIJP has alternative sentencing and advocacy projects as well as organizing and leadership development programs for incarcerated and formerly incarcerated transgender/intersex people and their allies.
342 9th St., Suite 202B
San Francisco, CA 94103
Ph: (415) 252-1444
www.tgijp.org
Women’s Prison Association
WPA works with women at all stages of criminal justice involvement. We promote alternatives to incarceration and help women living in the community to avoid arrest or incarceration by making positive changes in their lives.
110 Second Avenue
New York, NY 10003
Ph: (646) 292-7740
info@wpaonline.org
Young Women’s Freedom Center
We are building a movement of incarcerated, formerly incarcerated, and system involved young women throughout the state to lead local campaigns, statewide policy initiatives, and to advocate for the rights and liberation of all women and girls.
3234 Grand Avenue,
Oakland, CA 94610
Ph: (415) 703.8800
info@youngwomenfree.org
Youth Justice Coalition
YJC works to build a youth, family and prisoner-led movement to challenge race, gender and class inequality in Los Angeles County’s and California’s juvenile injustice systems.
7625 S. Central Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90001
Ph: (323) 235-4243
action@youth4justice.org
GENERAL RESOURCES
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
1600 Clifton Rd.
Atlanta, GA 303 Ph: (404) 639-3534
Toll free: (800) 232-4636
www.cdc.gov
Mayo Clinic
200 First St. SW
Rochester, MN 55905
Toll free: (800) 660-4582
www.mayoclinic.org
National Institutes of Health
10 Center Dr.
Bethesda, MD 20892
Ph: (301) 496-4000
www.nih.gov
SPECIFIC CONDITIONS
This is a partial list of organizations that address specific medical issues. See your phone book’s yellow pages, do a web search or visit your local public library for more information on other medical issues.
ARTHRITIS & FIBROMYALGIA
Arthritis Foundation, Northern California
90 Montgomery Street, Suite 710
San Francisco, CA 94105-4120
Toll free: (844) 571-4357
f: (415) 356-1240
www.arthritis.org/northern-california
Arthritis Foundation, Southern California
800 West 6th St., Suite 1250
Los Angeles, CA 90017
Toll free: (800) 954-2873
f: (323) 954-5790
www.arthritis.org/california
ASTHMA AND CHRONIC LUNG DISEASE
American Lung Association of California
333 Hegenberger Road, Suite 450
Oakland, CA 94621
Ph: (510) 638-5864
www.californialung.org
CANCER
American Cancer Society
National: Toll free: (800) 227-2345
www.cancer.org
American Cancer Society, Oakland
East Bay Metro Unit
2185 North California Blvd., Suite 290
Walnut Creek, CA 94596
Ph: (510) 832-7012
American Cancer Society, Los Angeles
Los Angeles Coastal Cities Unit
100 Corporate Pointe, Suite 350
Culver City, CA 90230
Ph: (310) 348-0357
DIABETES
American Diabetes Association
ATTN: National Call Center
2451 Crystal Drive, Suite 900
Arlington, VA 22202
Toll free: (800) 342-2383
www.diabetes.org
EPILEPSY (SEIZURE DISORDER)
Epilepsy Foundation of Northern California
1736 Franklin Street, Suite 450
Oakland, CA 94612
Toll Free: 800-632-3532
www.epilepsynorcal.org
Epilepsy Foundation of Southern California
5777 W. Century Blvd., Suite 820
Los Angeles, CA 90045
Toll Free: (800) 564-0445
f: (310) 670-6124
www.epilepsy-socalif.org
HEPATITIS & HIV
American Liver Foundation, Northern CA
870 Market St., Suite 1048
San Francisco, CA 94102
Ph: (415) 248-1060
Toll Free: (800) 465-4837
f: (415) 248-1066
www.liverfoundation.org
Greater Los Angeles Chapter of the American Liver Foundation
5777 West Century Blvd. Suite 865
Los Angeles, CA 90045
Ph: (310) 670-4624
f: (310) 670-4672
www.liverfoundation.org
Project Inform
25 Taylor St.
San Francisco, CA 94102
Ph: (415) 558-8669
Hepatitis C Helpline: (877) 435-7443
HIV Health InfoLine: (800) 822-7422
www.projectinform.org