SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Decarcerate Sacramento issued a press release today alleging Sacramento County Sheriff Jim Cooper illegally shut down a mutual aid program outside the downtown Main Jail.
The press release stated that Sheriff Cooper and several deputies “accosted local residents and volunteers offering mutual aid,” and threatened to arrest them. According to the release, the mutual aid program, operated by Decarcerate Sacramento and the Anti Police-Terror Project, has long provided basic resources and support for people newly released from jail and their families.
The release emphasized this is the first time the sheriff’s office has “forced out” Decarcerate Sacramento and APTP members from their mutual aid work. It cited the ongoing class-action lawsuit Mays v. Sacramento County, in which incarcerated plaintiffs alleged understaffing, prolonged isolation, inadequate care, and disability discrimination inside county jails…