Supervisors hear work group plan to reduce jail reliance; controller sets 83,220 bed‑day reduction as benchmark

Supervisor London Breed, president of the Board of Supervisors, opened a Government Audit & Oversight Committee hearing on the jail replacement work group’s findings and recommendations, saying the city has “the opportunity to change the tide of mass incarceration.” The co‑chairs and staff presented a high‑level synthesis of recommendations and a controller‑led analysis of how much the city must reduce jail occupancy to permanently close County Jails 3 and 4.

Kyle Patterson, project manager at the Controller’s Office, told the committee the most useful metric is bed days rather than daily headcount because a small group of long‑stay inmates account for a disproportionate share of bed usage. “In order to meet that goal of closing County Jails 3 and 4 without building a replacement facility, we need to reduce the jail population by 83,220 bed days,” Patterson said, noting the analysis was completed in July when average daily population was lower and the figure may be an underestimate.

Department of Public Health Director Barbara Garcia outlined current behavioral‑health capacity and planned investments the city is pursuing to create alternatives to incarceration. Garcia said DPH now provides about 1,900 behavioral‑health beds across locked and community settings and described near‑term projects including 15 beds at Hummingbird Place, a negotiated 40‑bed contract at Mount Zion with UCSF (a roughly $5 million investment), and a potential 47‑bed dual‑diagnosis unit funded in part by the 2016 bond. She said some pilot and expansion dollars — for example a LEAD diversion grant and Prop. 47 funds — could bring an additional ~$11 million to support diversion and treatment work.

Roma Guy, the community co‑chair of the work group, praised the collaborative process and pressed the committee to address long‑standing racial disparities. She and Patterson both highlighted that African‑American people account for a far larger share of bed days than their share of the city population; Patterson’s heat map showed African‑American jail residents represented roughly 53% of bed days in the analyzed cohort.

Sheriff Vicki Hennessy summarized operational realities: County Jail 4 remains in a seismically compromised portion of the Hall of Justice, County Jail 3 is closed, and County Jail 2 would require substantial retrofits to improve classification and program space. Hennessy described a dilemma that the city faces: pursue programmatic investments and alternatives that may reduce the population over time, or move forward with capital work (retrofits or a new facility) to ensure safe conditions for those who remain in custody. She said retrofits could take three to five years, would be costly, and might not eliminate dependency on Hall of Justice infrastructure.

Presenters and supervisors agreed the work group’s recommendations include capital investments, services and programs, and policy reforms grouped around the sequential intercept model (from prevention through reentry). Multiple panelists emphasized data limitations — several recommendations were not precise enough to estimate impact without further case review and improved metrics — and the need for continued inter‑agency coordination to measure and implement strategies.

Public comment ran for over an hour. Speakers from advocacy groups, providers and community coalitions urged bail and pretrial reform, rapid expansion of community mental‑health and housing alternatives, and caution about any locked facility model led by law‑enforcement agencies. Several community members said the work group produced useful recommendations but pressed the Board to hold agencies accountable and to prioritize community‑based responses.

The committee did not vote to adopt specific funding or construction decisions at the hearing. Supervisor Breed and other members said the item will return for further review; the committee continued Item 4 to the call of the chair so staff can refine feasibility, cost estimates and implementation plans (the co‑chairs are required by the enabling legislation to submit a written report by March 31, 2017).