Evan J. LancasterOn Thursday June 3, the Orange County-based Stop The Musick Coalition, a local organization largely against the reopening of the Irvine-based James A Musick jail facility, will be hosting a webinar via Zoom to discuss the racial disparities in Orange County jails.
Jacob Riesberg, a member of the ACLU, which is also a member of the Stop the Musick Coalition, said Thursday’s webinar would be one in a series of planned events hosted by Stop The Musick Coalition’s organizers.
“The webinar is one in a series that all connect to the expansion, but each session has a different focus. Tonight’s topic is on racial disparities in OC jails,” Reisberg said in an email to Irvine Weekly.
According to the registration page, the webinar is titled: “An Examination of Racial Disparities in OC Jails Featuring a New Report from Million Dollar Hoods”
In more detail, the description of the June 3 webinar will feature guest speakers and act as a “workshop [offering] strategies and direct actions to push for community-based alternatives to punishment and incarceration in OC.”
“In this workshop we’ll share the key elements and history of Orange County’s current incarceration trends. We will explore the revealing patterns of racial disparities to evaluate the harms of jail expansion. This has disproportionately caged Black and Latinxs people. We’ll hear from guest speakers and afterwards discuss the direct impact of these harms on our community’s most underserved members. How can we disrupt these trends and patterns to get the community we want? This workshop offers strategies and direct actions to push for community-based alternatives to punishment and incarceration in OC.”
The Orange County Sheriff’s Department closed the Musick facility in 2019, and it is currently under construction. Construction on the Musick jail expansion began in Summer 2020, and is more than 30 percent completed, with inmate occupancy expected to begin in 2023.
Once completed, the Musick jail will hold 896 beds total.
Due to the fact that the Musick jail is located on county land within Irvine, there is little the city can do to delay the project further. On May 10, the Irvine City Council unanimously passed a resolution presented by Vice Mayor Tammy Kim, that requested the Orange County Board of Supervisors to host a public forum regarding the reopening of the Musick facility.
In a text message to Irvine Weekly, Irvine Mayor Farrah Khan said she has not heard anything new regarding the board’s position on a public forum — adding that the board has yet to decline the city’s proposal.
The public is welcome to attend Stop The Musick’s Webinar, Wednesday, June 3 at 6:00 p.m.
https://aclu.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_aFZx4yygQ763I-CsXA2ipg
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