Update (August 15, 2019): After months of a withering protest campaign led by iconic activist Patrisse Khan-Cullors, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted Tuesday to support a motion canceling its $1.7-billion prison construction contract with McCarthy Building Companies.

Residents and activists were horrified when Los Angeles County Board members announced in July they would pay McCarthy $30 million to begin designing the county's eighth jail.

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BREAKING NEWS: Because we stood as one, LA Supervisors just cancelled the @McCarthyBuild contract to build another jail. This victory was only made possible because of the tireless & thankless work of @ReformLAJails's volunteers and supporters. The contract to build LA County’s 8th jail has been cancelled. But this fight isn’t over. We still must continue dreaming of a different world where all of our families are treated with dignity. Follow @ReformLAJails to stay involved. #CancelMcCarthyContract

A post shared by Reform L.A. Jails (@reformlajails) on Aug 13, 2019 at 2:56pm PDT

Khan-Cullors spearheaded a robust social media campaign using #CancelMcCarthyContract, galvanizing national support against the notorious prison builder.

Since the initial announcement, the Los Angeles County Board tried to call the 3,885-bed prison a “treatment center,” but the move did little to quell massive public anger.

“McCarthy has built ‘healthcare’ jails and prisons that have been complete failures — like the one in Stockton, California. People have died in these facilities,” Khan-Cullors wrote in the online petition. “We can’t afford for more families destroyed due to failed criminal justice policies. And we definitely can’t trust a company like McCarthy given their track record of making a living off of building death traps.”

McCarthy is well-known for their disastrous prisons where hundreds of people continue to die due to lack of funding, poor medical care and substandard conditions.

In 2005, a federal judge was forced to revoke responsibility of prison medical care from California state officials after investigators found that their negligent medical treatment was killing at least one inmate per week.

Khan-Cullors and Reform L.A. Jails held a massive protest Thursday to put even more pressure on the County Board.

“The goal should be to scale up effective culturally competent mental health and substance use models that are community based.”@OsopePatrisse at our rally today explaining why we are demanding @CountyofLA
#CancelMccarthyContract and #ReformLAJails. Because #caringiseasy
pic.twitter.com/TrstPcFLRK

— Reform L.A. Jails (@ReformLAJails) August 8, 2019

Beautiful sum up of our fight to #CancelMcCarthyContract
https://t.co/9DHxpSVvhE

— patrisse cullors (@OsopePatrisse) August 11, 2019

The move was even touted by presidential candidate and Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, who praised the activists for their work.

We should be investing in jobs and education, not more jails and incarceration. Congratulations to @reformlajails, @justicelanow and the whole coalition for their work to cancel the contract and stop the building of another jail in LA county. https://t.co/aTT6i6Skdy

— Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) August 14, 2019

Khan-Cullors and activists involved with Reform L.A. Jails are hoping to use the momentum from the win to stop other prison construction deals across the country.

Original: World-renowned activist Patrisse Khan-Cullors has turned her attention to the deadly prison system in Los Angeles County. To raise awareness, she has created a new hashtag to get people behind her.

It’s time we are brave in Los Angeles County #CancelMcCarthyContract
https://t.co/rW0VHaB06P

— patrisse cullors (@OsopePatrisse) July 3, 2019

The #CancelMcCarthyContract petition is going after McCarthy Building Companies, the corporation behind some of California’s most dangerous and deadly mental health facilities.

“In response to the unconscionable use of jail in place of treatment and the lack of investment in prevention and rehabilitation services, our movement, powered by Black Lives Matter, community organizations, and grassroots people-power, collected over 246,000 signatures to put an initiative on the ballot on March 3, 2020 to Reform LA County Jails,” Khan-Cullors stated in the petition.

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Patrisse, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far. The organization I am focusing on is Reform LA Jails, although I’ve started/help start many organizations– Black Lives Matter, Dignity and Power Now, Justice LA, Justice Teams Network, etc. The reason why I believe in social justice organizations is that I think they are the foundation for which we are able to have the most change possible for communities that are the most marginalized. For Reform LA Jails– which is a ballot initiative– it really came out of the need to further push the county board of supervisors in la, to change the way they treat people with mental illness inside the jails and also to change the way we criminalize the mentally ill. Reform LA Jails is an important ballot initiative because it’s going to be a game changer for LA, it’s going to equip the current civilian oversight mission of subpoena power and I think that’s incredibly important. @reformlajails #ReformLAJails #caringiseasy

A post shared by Patrisse Cullors-Brignac (@osopepatrisse) on Jun 18, 2019 at 10:55am PDT

In 2005, a federal judge had no choice but to remove control of prison medical care from California state officials after investigators found that their negligent medical treatment was killing at least one inmate per week.

J. Clark Kelso was appointed “federal receiver” and convinced the state to pay McCarthy $820 million to build the California Health Care Facility in South Stockton. In April, a devastating report came out showing numerous instances where doctors took actions that killed patients and spread disease.

One inmate pulled out her own eye and ate it, according to investigators. There was an outbreak of Legionnaires disease this year that killed an inmate.

“I feel very, very badly for the people of Stockton who have to deal with this behemoth of a building in their community. People with mental illness are not being treated the way they should be, not receiving the care they should be," Khan-Cullors told Newsweek in an interview on Wednesday.

“The money spent on building a new jail would be better spent on priorities like public education and affordable housing.”

The facility holds 2,670 inmates, and the report listed numerous instances of doctors prescribing the wrong medication, leaving wounds untreated and allowing illnesses and viruses to spread amongst a host of other terrible treatment.

Khan-Cullors says the petition will make it to the ballot on March 3, 2020, and they hope people will decide to bring the decision-making power back to the people.

"LA County deserves the right to vote on our important initiative before lawmakers move forward with building more jails,” she said. “Thousands of Angelinos have spoken: they want care not cages. They want decentralized mental health facilities, not mental health jails. We can’t let McCarthy stand in the way of reform. We can’t afford to lose another one of our cherished loved ones.”

#CancelMcCarthyContract

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