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June 03, 2005
CA: Delano: Delores Huerta: Could Anyone Imagine that Every 30 miles in the San Joaquin Valley there would be a prison?
Delano residents fight against new prison
Posted 06/1/05
BAKERSFIELD - Some folks in Delano spent part of their day demonstrating against a new prison because they're unhappy with the prison's $750,000 price tag.
Cruz Phillips said she hopes Gov. Schwarzenegger takes notice of the statewide protests and her voice will be heard.
"Governor Schwarzenegger betrayed us," she said. "He said he would stop the expansion of prisons."
Phillips is part of Californians United for Responsibility on the Budget (CURB). The group protested the opening of the Kern Valley State Prison, a project formerly known as Delano 2.
Kern Valley is scheduled to receive its first inmates later this month.
"I think the state spends too much money on locking people up," said Phillios. "That money would be better used on things like education instead of this prison, which does no good."
Delores Huerta of the Delores Huerta Foundation was also on hand to lend her support to the protestors.
"Could anyone ever imagine 20 years ago that every 30 miles in the San Joaquin Valley, there'd be a prison?" said Huerta. "I know I couldn't."
Huerta said the protestors don't have a problem with the prison employees personally, just with the prison system as a whole.
Meanwhile, Lt. John Whitehead defended the opening of Kern Valley, saying the prison will ease overcrowding of maximum security inmates in the statewide correctional system.
"If there was a way you could tell me tomorrow there would be no more crime, I would find another job in an instant," said Whitehead. "No problem with that."
The CURB group is holding simultaneous protests in Los Angeles, Oakland, and Fresno. Shortcut to: http://www.kget.com/news/local/story.aspx?content_id=4A3E5D20-3856-46AA-94B6-2B6C6AB0D59D
Posted by lois at June 3, 2005 07:26 PM