Contact: Friends & Family of California Civil Detainees
Allan Marshall, Director
Tel: 702-421-0467
Email: detainees@...
http://www.voicesofthegulag.org / http://www.sexgulag.org
Contact: Friends & Family Demonstration Coordinator
Jaymmie Stallworth
(916) 628-7201, (916) 670-0022
Civil Detainee Contact:
Mike St. Martin, CO-414-3, Unit 7
P.O . BOX 5003, Coalinga, CA 93210-5003 Tel: 559-934-0391 or 559-934-0392
WHERE: Coalinga State Hospital, Coalinga, CA WHEN: Sunday, March 2, 2008 at 12:00 p.m.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Protesters and journalists are expected to gather from around the state Sunday, March 2nd at Noon in front of Coalinga State Hospital in the first such demonstration in support of sex offenders and against the conditions under which they are being held and the civil commitment laws which hold them after they have served their entire prison terms.
The protesters will also include former Department of Mental Health employees as well as several former Civil Detainees such as Patrick Ghillotti.
Friends & Family of California Civil Detainees (F.F.C.C.D.) as well as Reform of Sex Offender Laws (R.S.O.L.) will be co-sponsoring the event at California's newest State Hospital, the $388 Million C.S.H. to call attention to flagrant civil rights violations, staff shortages, poor medical treatment, and what they say are unconstitutional civil commitment laws.
Speakers will include Jay Murley, four-time past president of the Orange County A.C.L.U. and Harvard Club President; Tom Madison of "S.O. Clear"; a group advocating on behalf of sex offenders; Starchild, a Libertarian Party activist; and Jaymmie Stallworth, wife of a C.S.H. Detainee, as well as the Detainees themselves, who will speak directly to the crowd by telephone.
Protesters are questioning why the state has squandered over $2 billion on a failed program with billions more expected to be spent at a time when the State faces a $16 billion shortfall.
"With each Patient costing the State more than $200,000 annually - now that's five times the cost per inmate in California's prisons - how is it that the patients only receive dangerously poor medical treatment?" asked Jay Murley. "We know that California's schools are in dire straits, and the Governor and Legislature insist they are fiscally responsible, but California's Department of Mental Health squanders vast amounts of money mismanaging this failed experiment. They plan to boondoggle much more in the future. The D. M. H. is on its way to becoming the next California Department of Corrections" he stated, referring to its many legal and funding challenges. "Is the State becoming the State's biggest abuser of children?".