Project Keep Away
Project Keep Away (PKA) disrupts the prison-to-ICE pipeline as we organize for the abolition of all prisons and detention facilities.
At the intersection of the prison and immigration systems, PKA prevents prison-to-immigration detention transfers by empowering community members both inside and outside of prisons with educational resources and programming as well as a live, free helpline available to people inside two California prisons. The helpline is available to people inside the Central California Women’s Facility (CCWF) and the California Institution for Women (CIW) who are at risk of transfer to ICE custody. Through PKA, people in these prisons can access educational resources so they may better understand their risk of ICE detainment and have a better outcome in their case.
Project Keep Away Helpline: (209) 757-3733
Monday-Thursday, 10am-8pm PT
CCWF and CIW prisons
People inside CCWF or the CIW can call (209) 757-3733 from Monday-Thursday between 10am and 8pm PT
The problem
The prison and immigration detention systems are deeply interconnected and function as one. In fact, about 70% of people arrested by ICE nationally are those transferred directly from jails and prisons. This is the prison-to-ICE pipeline.
Despite serving their time and completing their sentence, many are re-incarcerated by immigration detention on the very same day they would otherwise be going home. In California, 1,500 incarcerated people earn release from prison each year, only to be transferred to immigration detention centers.
The re-incarceration of immigrants in ICE detention is double punishment. These immigrants face the loss of their freedom twice — first in prison or jail, then in ICE detention — for the same conviction. This practice of double punishment compounds existing racial inequities in the carceral system, especially harming long-term or permanent residents in Black communities and other communities of color.
“The prison-to-ICE pipeline destroys countless lives and exacerbates the injustices served upon communities of color. It propagates the existing racial disparities of over-policing, profiling, and convictions into the immigration system.”
A Black person is 10 times more likely than a white person to be arrested for a low-level criminal offense. These existing disparities infect the immigration system with racial bias and discriminatory practices; 20% of people facing deportation on criminal grounds are Black, while only 7% of non-citizens in the U.S. are Black. Double punishment is a deliberate policy choice — one that cruelly reinforces racism in the immigration system.
our solution
Preventing ICE detainers that feed the prison-to-ICE pipeline is key to disrupting the larger detention and deportation dragnet. Many people facing incarceration may not even know they are at risk of transfer to ICE upon their scheduled release date from prison. PKA’s educational programming and resource helpline are designed to equip community members with the knowledge they need to navigate their cases.
From inside prison, people can access information about ICE detention and learn what to expect in the face of re-incarceration by calling the free helpline. On the outside, any community member at risk of deportation or their loved ones can access in-person educational resources via programming events and KYR (Know Your Rights) materials.
We currently offer Project Keep Away at the CCWF and the CIW prisons in California and plan to expand to other prisons and states in the future. On the legislative side, FFI is proud to have supported the introduction of the groundbreaking New Way Forward Act, a federal bill that would limit the prison-to-ICE pipeline and roll back other harmful immigration laws, as well as similar proposed state laws in California that would end prison to ICE transfers.
Our vision
We strive to end incarceration for everyone. When people have completed their sentences, we should give them the opportunity to reunite with their loved ones and rebuild their lives — not face further trauma.
Disentangling the prison and immigration systems is key to both freeing people from the bonds of prisons and detention centers in the short-term and weakening these institutions in the long-term.
All prisons and jails are inhumane and used to suppress our freedom and human dignity. No matter who holds the keys — whether that be local sheriff’s offices, ICE, or another local or federal law enforcement agency — we fight for the demolition of all cages. In their place, we’re building a just future in which all people can move freely and thrive.