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Hundreds tell supervisors: don't build a new jail; committee continues rebuild item
Summary
During the June 18 committee meeting dozens of community organizations and residents urged supervisors to halt plans for a new San Francisco jail and to reallocate funds to housing, mental health and diversion; the committee continued the jail-rebuild item to allow fuller review and public engagement.
San Francisco ' The same June 18 hearing drew sustained, large-scale public comment opposing a proposed new county jail and proposed increases in San Francisco Police Department staffing.
Speakers from coalitions and community groups including All of Us or None, the Coalition on Homelessness, Critical Resistance, Jobs with Justice, TGI Justice Project and others urged the supervisors to stop or pause the jail-rebuild plan and to direct funding toward housing, mental-health services and proven pretrial alternatives. Dorsey Nunn of All of Us or None said, "At a certain point, I ask you to actually think about not building a jail," arguing the project would disproportionately harm future generations.
Multiple commenters highlighted statistics presented earlier in the meeting (for example that African Americans are overrepresented in the county jail), emphasized that roughly 80% of the county jail population is pretrial, and warned that building new capacity would lead to filling it. Several speakers noted pending appeals and asked for an environmental-impact review and for planning grant hearings to occur before any construction decisions.
Speakers proposed alternatives including bail reform, pretrial diversion programs, expanded supportive housing, community-led public-safety initiatives and increased funding for rehabilitation services. Several organizations said they filed or planned to file appeals to the Planning Commission and urged supervisors to use grant-review hearings to assess an $80 million state grant application tied to jail construction planning.
Procedural outcome: Chair Eric Marr moved to continue Item 3 (the jail rebuild hearing) to the Government Audits & Oversight committee (a July 16 continuation was announced by staff) to allow a longer review and wider community participation; the motion was made without recorded objection. The committee also continued Item 2 (a separate health-code restroom ordinance) at the call of the chair.
What happens next: The jail rebuild item will be heard in more detail in the Government Audits & Oversight committee and the public was encouraged to participate in upcoming planning and EIR processes.
