Freedom Campaigns

Henrietta Briones is FREE!

More about Henrietta: Testimony

Free Battered Women learned on August 25th that Governor Schwarzenegger has declined to review the Board of Prison Terms' decision to grant Henrietta Briones parole, which means that the Board's decision stands.

This was the second time that the Board granted Henrietta parole; former Governor Davis reversed the Board's previous decision in 2002.

We are thrilled for Henrietta, her sister Carmelita and niece Georgina (who together led the fight for her freedom), and her children. We wish them all a joyful reunion!

Free Battered Women is grateful to everyone who sent letters, faxes, and emails to the Governor or called to urge him to release Henrietta -- your support helped make her freedom possible!

Her release is a wonderful victory for all of us working to end interpersonal and state violence!

Please join us on October 24th in San Francisco for our annual Our Voices Within event, where we will celebrate Henrietta's freedom and that of several other survivors who have been released this year.

We will continue to keep you informed about actions you can take to support other incarcerated survivors of domestic violence being released on parole.

• Read a San Francisco Chronicle article about Henrietta's release
• Read an article in the Press-Enterprise

About Henrietta:

Henrietta Briones is a Native American (Soboba Tribe)/Mexican American survivor of domestic violence who has been incarcerated since 1986 for killing her abusive former boyfriend.

During their two-year relationship, Henrietta's boyfriend was extremely violent, emotionally abusive, and economically controlling. Henrietta sought assistance from the police and shelter from a local battered women’s program, but they did not offer the protection she needed. Her boyfriend weighed literally twice as much as she did (he was 6’4” and 230 pounds; she was 5’2” and 115 pounds). During a confrontation in which she feared for her life and the lives of her children, she shot him.

• Read Henrietta's testimony
• Read about Henrietta's family support