Board hearing flags staffing shortfalls, overcrowding as causes of repeated jail lockdowns

SAN FRANCISCO — The San Francisco Board of Supervisors, sitting as a committee of the whole on May 14, heard urgent testimony that repeated lockdowns in county jails are the product of a swollen jail census and persistent staffing shortfalls that have left deputies overworked and incarcerated people deprived of programming and legal access.

Sheriff Miyamoto told the board the jail system is managing an average daily population around 1,200 — roughly a 35–40% increase from pre‑COVID levels — and that units were locked down "deliberate[ly] and measured" after a rise in assaults on staff. "It's a new breed of inmate in here. They don't respect anything. They are mentally unwell," the sheriff said while summarizing interviews and slides he provided to the board. He described ongoing hiring and training efforts and asked for more resources to expand behavioral‑health partnerships and technology such as body‑worn cameras and tablets with translation services.

Ken Lamba, president of the Deputy Sheriffs Association, pressed a different point: understaffing is the immediate driver of the lockdowns and the health problems that follow. Citing union data, he said prisoner‑on‑prisoner fights rose roughly 45% between 2021 and 2023 and attacks on staff increased "about 380%" in the same period. Lamba and other union witnesses urged higher entry pay, a…