Alameda County is part of the grand nine county Sanctuary Zone and it includes the Santa Rita Jail, the fifth largest jail in all of the United States. The City of Oakland is nearby.
Santa Rita maintains an average of 4,000 prisoners on any given day yet it is only the fifth largest jail in America.
To put this monument to white racism in perspective, the largest prison in all of Europe is Fleury-Mérogis in France with 4,000 inhabitants.
Yes, this Alameda County jail for short term stays is as large as the largest prison in all of Europe.
There is no reason for any of these usually poor, usually non-white, victims of racism to even be in Santa Rita.
As the California Sanctuary Zone comes to life we will have the power to open this jail’s doors and let these people go.
We will have the power to let them all be free.
We cannot save all of the people in the jails across America but we can in fact save those in our Sanctuary and let them finally live happy normal lives under our care and support.
The Sanctuary Zone makes this possible.