ACLU Joins San Francisco Residents in Opposing New Jail

UPDATE! On Dec. 15, 2015 the San Francisco Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to reject funding for the new jail!

Community members and local groups are speaking out against Mayor Ed Lee’s plan to spend upwards of $240 million on a new jail. Two weeks ago, community activists shut down a board hearing for hours in an act of protest. Today, a coalition of organizations, along with supervisors who are against the plan, will deliver a petition to the mayor’s office signed by over 2,000 people. The Board of Supervisors is voting on Mayor Ed Lee’s proposal tomorrow.

This city doesn’t need a new jail. Our current jail is fifty percent empty. San Francisco has decreased its jail population by thirty-five percent over the past ten years, and crime in the city is down. These statistics alone should be the envy of a nation that is waking up to the toll an era of mass incarceration has taken on our communities.

San Francisco has been headed in the right direction, and we can seize this moment to take a huge step forward for public health and public safety. Only 350 people need to be relocated from the Hall of Justice. We don’t need to build a new jail to make that happen. But San Francisco desperately needs mental health treatment services for the thousands of people who are living on the street and cycling in and out of a criminal justice system that cannot meet their needs.

Many of the people currently in San Francisco jail need psychiatric care. The city has an excess of jail beds, but we have long waiting lists for residential mental health treatment beds.

Building a new jail will only duplicate the mistakes of the past, and exacerbate the failings of our current system. We know that San Francisco has a problem with racial profiling and racially biased policing. The consequences are tragic and unacceptable. 

The ACLU is joining scores of local advocates, activists, and criminal justice officials – including District Attorney George Gascón – in opposing plans for a new jail. Rather than sinking more resources into incarceration, San Francisco should invest in smart approaches to crime prevention and public safety.

Sure, the city could spend $240 million building a new jail that San Francisco doesn’t need. Or, we could take this golden opportunity to do something different.

This is money that can be spent wisely. We can invest in innovative and successful diversion programs that promote rehabilitation. We can expand treatment programs for addiction. And we can fund residential and outpatient programs that give people suffering from mental illness the treatment they need. What’s more, we’ve got a city full of smart and dedicated policy-makers and criminal justice officials who can help make this happen.

It’s time for the city to provide real solutions. Let’s take this moment to invest in San Francisco’s future, and get help to people who are suffering. We’ll all be better for it.

If you’d like to speak out against Mayor Ed Lee’s plan, you can find your supervisor’s contact information at www.sfbos.org.

Micaela Davis is a staff attorney with the ACLU of Northern California.

Learn more

#NoNewSFJail letter from 30+ nonprofits to Mayor Ed Lee and the San Francisco Board of Supervisors (Dec. 14, 2015)

Letter from ACLU in opposition to a new jail in San Francisco (Dec. 1, 2015)