Kern County Chapter of Free Battered Women presents Informational Seminar

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
(Free-Press-Release.com) May 26, 2010 -- The seminar will bring together the community in order to raise awareness of the inadequacies of the parole system relating to women in prison who suffer from Battered Woman Syndrome.
Don Hammond, of the U.S.C. Gould School of Law Post-Conviction Justice Project will speak about the ongoing work of the project with battered women. Additionally, Connie Keel, a survivor who served 29 years for a murder that her abusive husband committed, will speak, as well as McCree Milligan, a Bakersfield resident, another Battered Women survivor.

The formation of the Kern County chapter has evolved from a group of Master in Social Work students at CSU Bakersfield. Free Battered Women who chose this topic as an advocacy project for their program. The group seeks to end the re-victimization of incarcerated survivors of domestic violence as part of the movement for racial justice and the struggle to resist all forms of intimate partner violence against women and transgender people. This is achieved through community organizing, parole advocacy, public education, media campaigns, and policy work.
California Governors have the power to overturn the recommendations of the Board of Prison Terms who approve women for parole. Under Governor Davis, the Board recommended 174 cases for parole, and the Governor overturned all but two of those cases. The women, who are in prison for crimes committed by their abusers, or under threat with their abusers, are serving indeterminate sentences because of Governor Davis and Governor Schwarzenegger’s role in reversing the recommendations of the Board.

The public is invited to attend this event. The event will be held at CSU Bakersfield’s multi-purpose room on May 26, 2010, at 7:00 p.m. The event is free. For more information please feel free to contact the chapter.
Contact:
Vicci Snyder, President
Kern County Chapter of Free Battered Women
661-205-2379
vsnyder71@gmail.com.