Press Conference and Rally by Jail Investigation Team Before the County Commissioners’ 06/13 Budget Hearing

On Monday the 13th, join the Jail Investigation Team and our supporters in a press conference and rally just before the County Commissioners take public comments on the proposed budget for 2016.

The County Commissioners are responsible for funding the Durham County Jail, where at least three inmates have died in custody in the past year, and where hundreds more overwhelmingly poor, black, and brown inmates are being held, for months and sometimes even years on end, for the crime of not having enough money to bond themselves out.

Prisoners at the jail report regular medical neglect, denial of religious freedoms, unsanitary (and occasionally maggot-laden) food, and price gouging by the private companies that the County Commissioners contract to provide services there. For months, now, a growing number of civil society groups have been calling for an independent, community-based investigation into the jail, conducted by local researchers partnering with community members and responsive to the concerns of prisoners.

Join us as we make clear that budgeting for the jail makes the jail the county’s responsibility, and that they need to cooperate with us in making an investigation happen NOW!