| 1978 |
LSPC founded by Ellen Barry with grants from Berkeley Law Foundation and NYU |
| 1979 |
LSPC moves into San Francisco office space generously provided by Equal Rights Advocates |
| 1979-1985 |
LSPC conducts legal clinic at FCI Dublin providing legal assistance to over 1000 clients |
| 1980 |
LSPC co-counsels Thomas V. Hennesy, a lawsuit which successfully challenges the lack of work furlough programming for women prisoners at San Francisco County Jail |
| 1981 |
LSPC drafts legislation clarifying eligibility for the Community Prisoner Mother Infant Care Program (CPMP), an alternative to incarceration for women prisoners and their children |
| 1981 |
LSPC files Coleman v. Way, a class action lawsuit on behalf of California state women prisoners denied equal access to work and vocational training on parity with apprenticeship programs available to male prisoners |
| 1982 |
LSPC enters into a settlement agreement with the San Francisco County Jail in Thomas v. Hennessey, establishing a work furlough program for women prisoners at the jail |
| 1982-1985 |
LSPC takes on the work of the Ex-Offender Employment Project of the Employment Law Center (ELC), providing legal assistance to former prisoners denied employment and licensing because of their past convictions |
| 1983 |
LSPC, with the National Lawyers Guild, completely revamps and publishes the 2nd edition of the Jailhouse Lawyers' Manual, and later the 3rd edition; over 10,000 copies are distributed to prisoners over the next five years |
| 1984 |
LSPC interviews hundreds of women prisoners at the California Institution for Women (CIW) and the California Rehabilitation Center (CRC) in preparation for the filing of two class action lawsuits |
| 1984 |
LSPC publishes the first edition of the Incarcerated Parents Manual |
| 1985 |
LSPC, ELC, and Heller, Ehrman, White & McAuliffe (HEWM) successfully settle Coleman v. Way, creating additional vocational and apprenticeship programs and opportunities for women prisoners |
| 1985 |
LSPC organizes the 1st National Roundtable on Women in Prison (New York, NY) |
| 1985 |
LSPC files Harris v. McCarthy with the So Cal. ACLU and HEWM, a class action lawsuit on behalf of pregnant and post-partum women in California state prisons |
| 1985 |
LSPC and Southern California ACLU file Rios v. McCarthy, a tax-payer plaintiff action in state court challenging the failure of the California Department of Corrections to place eligible women and their infants in the CPMP. |
| 1986 |
LSPC, Greater Bakersfield Legal Services (GBLS), Central California Legal Services (CCLS) and private attorney Catherine Campbell file Yeager v. Smith, a class action lawsuit on behalf of Kern County Jail pregnant women prisoners. |
| 1986 |
LSPC co-organizes the 2nd National Roundtable on Women in Prison with CLAIM in Chicago, Illinois. Over 150 people attend. |
| 1987 |
LSPC and Public Advocates file Jones v. Dyer, a class action suit on behalf of pregnant and parenting women at the Santa Rita County jail in Alameda County |
| 1987 |
LSPC organizes the 3rd National Roundtable on Women in Prison in Waynesboro, Virginia |
| 1988 |
LSPC organizes the 3rd National Roundtable on Women in Prison at the Marin Headlands; over 250 people attend; National Network for Women in Prison (NNWP) regional representatives are elected |
| 1988 |
LSPC, So Cal. ACLU and HEWM successfully settle Harris v. McCarthy by entering in to a comprehensive settlement agreement on behalf of pregnant women prisoners statewide |
| 1989 |
LSPC successfully settles both Jones v. Dyer and Yeager v. Smith entering into strong, monitored consent decrees |
| 1989-Present |
LSPC publishes over 20 manuals and compilations to assist prisoners, their family members and the practitioners who work with them, including Manuals on Divorce, Immigration, Guardianship, Battered Women and other topics |
| 1990 |
LSPC becomes an IOLTA Legal Services Support Center |
| 1990 |
LSPC founding director, Ellen Barry, and Board member, Harriette Davis, are appointed to the Statewide Commission on Female Inmates and Parolees by then Speaker of the House, Willie Brown |
| 1991 |
LSPC convenes the California Coalition for Battered Women in Prison (CCBWP) in collaboration with the organizing efforts of over 45 women prisoners at CIW; over 200 volunteers file 36 petitions for clemency |
| 1992-1997 |
LSPC creates the Grandparent Caregiver Advocacy Project (GCAP) with Legal Assistance for Seniors, Grandparents as Second Parents (GASP) and other community partners, a nationally recognized model program for grandparents caring for children of incarcerated parents. |
| 1992-1997 |
LSPC staff members organize and conduct local, regional and national trainings on grandparent caregivers throughout California, and in Oklahoma, Illinois, Ohio, DC, and New York, producing regional and national manuals |
| 1992-1994 |
LSPC staff members River Ginchild and Ellen Barry work with 79 year old Celestine Greene, the charismatic founder of GASP, to insure the survival of GASP; Mrs. Greene dies in 1994, but GASP lives on |
| 1992-1995 |
LSPC joins with attorneys Catherine Campbell, Jack Daniel and Carrie Hempel and activist doctor, Corey Weinstein to investigate seriously deficient medical care Central California Women's Facility (CCWF) and CIW |
| 1994 |
Dorsey Nunn receives the Human Excellence Award from the San Francisco Muslim Community Center |
| 1995 |
LSPC, National Prison Project, HEWM, USC Post Conviction, CCLS and Catherine Campbell file Shumate v. Wilson, a massive class action lawsuit on behalf of over 5000 women prisoners at CCWF and CIW aimed at improving the horrible medical care afforded prisoners women in the California state prison system. |
| 1995-2003 |
LSPC provides administrative support to fledgling non-profits: GASP, NNWP, California Coalition for Women Prisoners, Women's PLAN/Justice Now, Families with a Future, Critical Resistance, Free Battered Women, and Prisoner Activist Resource Center |
| 1996 |
LSPC staff member, Dorsey Nunn, develops the innovative recovery program for youth in East Palo Alto, U TURN with staff from Free at Last, an adult recovery program which he also co-founded |
| 1997 |
Dorsey Nunn is awarded the prestigious California Wellness Community Fellowship |
| 1997 |
Ellen Barry awarded Soros Open Society Institute Senior Justice Fellowship |
| 1997 |
LSPC staff members, Dorsey Nunn and Ellen Barry, help to form the core organizing group which launches the Critical Resistance movement, a national movement challenging the growth of the prison industrial complex |
| 1998 |
LSPC founding director, Ellen Barry, is awarded the MacArthur "genius" award |
| 1998 |
LSPC staff, volunteers and supporters help Critical Resistance to convene a gathering of over 3600 people from every state and 13 other countries at UC Berkeley for the first Critical Resistance Conference |
| 1999 |
LSPC staff members, Dorsey Nunn and Karen Shain, become co-directors of the organization as founding director, Ellen Barry, passes on the "torch" |
| 1999 |
LSPC works with Ted Koppel and ABC TV's Nightline to produce a six-part series about life behind bars for women at VSPW |
| 1999 |
LSPC and HEWM settle an individual personal injury lawsuit on behalf of Lorraine Cook who lost her newborn son at full term after medical staff at CCWF failed to treat her for pre-eclampsia, a life-threatening pregnancy condition |
| 2000 |
LSPC works with then Senator Richard Polanco from the California State legislature to hold public hearings at VSPW and CIW which afforded women prisoners the opportunity to speak for themselves about conditions behind bars |
| 2000 |
LSPC and HEWM successfully settle a personal injury lawsuit on behalf of Sherrie Chapman a prisoner at CIW who waited nearly 5 years for delayed diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer |
| 2000 |
Dorsey Nunn receives Vanguard Foundation Sabbatical Award |
| 2001 |
LSPC and other organizations investigate a series of deaths at CCWF which leads to local and national media attention and results in state legislative hearings |
| 2001 |
LSPC launches the "Family Advocacy Network" which brings together families of prisoners to heal and organize against the abuses endured by their incarcerated loved ones |
| 2001 |
LSPC creates the "Healing Wall," a tribute to loved ones lost to incarceration and violence |
| 2002 |
LSPC develops "Lift Every Voice/Freedom Bound," a former women prisoners' support network |
| 2002 |
LSPC reactivates CCBWP, changes its name to "Free Battered Women (FBW)." FBW helps launch the Habeas Project - a statewide network of legal workers aimed at winning freedom for battered women in prison - which leads to the release of Marva Wallace and Susan Deering. |
| 2003 |
The Habeas Project secures the release of Liza Brown and Vadilla Spragin each of whom served well over a decade in California state prisons |
| 2003 |
LSPC launches "All of Us or None"-a grassroots organizing initiative of former prisoners fighting to combat the many forms of discrimination faced by people with felony convictions |
