Habeas Project Celebrates Victory

"Thank you to everyone that made the bill a law. Chris Kearney (her pro-bono attorney) was a blessing from God. He stuck with me since 1982." — Mary Ramp

Now in its third year, the Habeas Project is celebrating the release of Mary Ramp. Ms. Ramp is a 56-year old grandmother now re-united with her family as a result of the efforts of the Habeas Project.

Established in 2002 by Legal Services for Prisoners with Children, Free Battered Women, the California Women's Law Center, and the USC Post Conviction Justice Project, the Habeas Project works for the release of battered women under California Penal Code §1473.5. The project pairs selected survivors with pro-bono legal teams, which are made up of law students and attorneys. The Northern California effort attempts to: (1) make the process empowering for both the women and the attorneys, and (2) encourage the legal teams to acknowledge race, class and educational privilege while building relationships with their clients and supporting them in both release and transition back to society.

Along with working on existing cases, the Habeas Project's focus this year has been on creating and amending SB 1385, which amends Penal Code §1473.5. The bill (authored by Senator Burton and co-authored by Senators Kuehl, Romero, and Assembly Members Jackson, Leno, Goldberg, and Dymally), expands the class of domestic violence survivors who are eligible for habeas relief. It changes problematic language about "Battered Women's Syndrome" to the more favored and inclusive term "battering and its effects."

As of August 25, 2004 SB1385 has successfully passed through the senate and assembly and is now awaiting approval from the governor. To support this bill please contact the governor's office:

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger
Attn: Peter Siggins, Legal Affairs Secretary
State Capitol Building
Sacramento, CA 95814
Fax: 916-323-0935
www.governor.ca.gov

The goals of the Habeas Project for the next 6 months are to pass SB1385, file more cases and develop media coverage of the project. In the next year, we hope to have a final resolution for all currently assigned cases. "If SB1385 passes, we take what we have learned in terms of how we organize the project and build upon it, perhaps making more changes," says Olivia Wang, LSPC staff attorney who coordinates the project.

"Survivors are still not getting their day in court and unless their stories are made public, people will assume the system is working. We need to get people to think critically about the relationship between domestic violence and imprisonment," says Wang.