OLD_San Francisco Public Defender's Office

SF PUBLIC DEFENDER MANO RAJU CALLS FOR MAJOR REFORMS AFTER VIDEO SURFACES SHOWING SFPD OFFICER WITH KNEE ON TEENAGER’S NECK 

The country is mourning after a Minneapolis police officer murdered George Floyd, an unarmed Black man accused of a nonviolent offense.  What happened to George Floyd is happening all over the United States with miserable regularity. Anyone paying attention can see that our country is plagued by police use of excessive force and violence, especially against communities of color. 

In fact, on Saturday, my office  learned of a video of an SFPD officer using the same deadly tactic, kneeling on the neck of an immobilized Black teenager. 

On January 25, 19-year-old Kajon Busby was thrown to the ground by three SFPD officers who had been called to a verbal dispute between Kajon’s mother and the next door neighbors. Officer Valle kneeled on Kajon’s neck and back, pinning him face down on the sidewalk while her partners handcuffed him. Valle continued to use her knee to put pressure on Kajon’s neck and head for nearly a whole minute after he was cuffed. In the video, Valle can be heard attempting to explain the violence by telling the cameraman, “We told you to leave, but you didn’t want to,” as if that fact, if true, justified this violence. All three officers then misrepresented the events in their reports, Valle claiming she put her knee on Kajon’s back only, and the two others attempted to omit Valle’s violent conduct altogether. 

Police who abuse their power should not be wearing a badge. While oversight and early intervention is important, it means nothing if there is rarely any meaningful disciplinary action or change. A massive overhaul of our policing system is needed, and it must be driven by the wisdom of the communities most impacted by systemic abuse.

The time for incremental reform in the SFPD has long passed. Therefore, we are calling on the Police Commission and Chief Scott to do the following now:

1. Issue a general order to the department forbidding any officer from applying pressure on a person’s neck and head while a person is on the ground. This new policy comports with SFPD’s policy against other potentially deadly detention holds such as chokeholds or hobbling. This policy must be made explicit and take effect immediately.
2. Make the use of potentially deadly detention holds a form of misconduct that leads to immediate termination.
3. Make systemic reforms the top priority of the Police Commission, requiring that the Commission agendize only reform measures and discipline matters, and that the SFPD devote adequate personnel to implement the remaining California DOJ recommendations  pursuant to the Collaborative Reform Initiative without further delay. 
4. End the two-tiered system of justice: speedily investigate officers accused of violent and/or dishonest misconduct. Investigations that take months and sometimes years – while the offenders continue to act under the color of the law – endanger those who bear the brunt of the abuse and empower the abusers. 
5. Increase investments in alternatives to policing. Our over-reliance on law enforcement to respond to every call for help in our communities has led to more violence and over-incarceration. Instead, we must invest in other forms of social support and respond to crises by assessing needs and providing the necessary support. The systems currently in place are not the only options – we can build something different. Diverting funds from policing to community-based and trauma-informed approaches is the first step of many needed to help ameliorate the devastating effects that over policing has had on communities of color. 

Further, I ask the Police Commission and Chief Scott to join us in a coalition to work to identify and enact statewide legislative reforms, including amending provisions of the Public Safety Officers’ Procedural Bill of Rights that impede the swift termination of officers who abuse their authority – for example, by accelerating the administrative appeals process. 

I am heartened by Chief Scott’s recent statement condemning the police murder of George Floyd and by the Chief’s desire to implement anti-bias measures. However, the current pace of reform is neither rooting out violence and racism in SFPD, nor protecting our community members equally, nor holding violent or dishonest police accountable. San Francisco deserves better.

REFERENCES:

Video surfaces among George Floyd death fallout showing SFPD kneeling on a man’s neck – SF Examiner – May 30, 2020:https://www.sfexaminer.com/news/video-surfaces-amid-george-floyd-death-fallout-showing-sf-police-kneeling-on-mans-neck/  

SFPD Collaborative Reform Phase II Report from the California Department of Justice, March 4, 2020: https://oag.ca.gov/system/files/attachments/press-docs/Final%20Hillard%20Heintze%20Phase%20II%20Report%20for%20the%20San%20Francisco%20Police%20Department-1.pdf

After Long Battle, Public Defender Successfully Secures Release of Transgender Client from ICE Detention

SAN FRANCISCO – Yesterday, the San Francisco Public Defender’s Office secured the release of Lexis Hernandez Avilez, a 41-year-old transgender woman who spent the last 17 months detained by ICE, most recently in Texas.  Her story made headlines in January of this year after ICE transferred her without notice from detention in California to Texas on Christmas night 2019. She is on a flight returning to reunite with her family in California today.

Ms. Avilez has lived in the United States since she was one, and became a lawful permanent resident at 21. As a child, Lexis suffered physical and mental abuse by relatives and was forced to hide her feminine mannerisms. Ms. Avilez was placed in immigration detention in Yuba County Jail following completing a sentence for a past conviction. During her detention, with the help of medical professionals, she was diagnosed with Gender Dysphoria and finally came out as a transgender woman. At this point, Ms. Avilez requested medically-necessary care, female clothing, asked to be identified by her female name, and requested a transfer to be held with the female population. While Yuba County Jail eventually started using her new name, they never provided the hormonal treatment nor the clothing or housing needed despite months of advocacy.

The San Francisco Public Defender’s Office has represented Ms. Avilez  since January 2019 and has continually advocated for her rights as a transgender woman. “Ms. Avilez suffered significant mental hardship during her detention with ICE,” said her lawyer, Hector Vega. “While struggling with her gender confirmation, she was placed in segregated confinement, denied hormonal treatment for months, and became suicidal as a result of these inhumane conditions. And yet, Ms. Avilez remained strong and has become an important voice for all transgender persons asking for humane treatment in detention. She is a kind and generous woman and we are happy her rights were ultimately upheld.” 

During immigration proceedings, Vega filed a petition to legally recognize Ms. Avilez as female, to formally change her name, and to have her case reopened requesting protection from torture abroad. Following the refusal from ICE and Yuba County Jail to provide her medically-necessary care, the Public Defender’s Office filed a habeas petition in the Northern District of California seeking her immediate release due to the federal government’s inability to provide appropriate care for Ms. Avilez as a transgender person in detention.

“Transgender people who are incarcerated are often misgendered and detained in isolation or with the wrong gender population,” said San Francisco Public Defender Mano Raju. “This is a massive issue in federal immigration detention, as well as in our prison system. My office will continue to fight to protect the rights of incarcerated transgender people and fight for their release; detention centers are not safe places due to the transphobia that continues to permeate these institutions. In this situation, Ms. Avilez had the double risk of worsening health services on the inside due to ICE’s unwillingness to respect her identity, as well the risk she faced with respect to contracting the coronavirus,” said Raju. “I am thrilled that we were able to secure her release.”

On April 8, 2020, the District Court granted Ms. Avilez’s habeas petition and ordered a bond hearing for Ms. Avilez. On April 16, 2020, the Immigration Judge found that Ms. Avilez was not a dangerous person and ordered her release, conditional on a $10,000 bond. Yesterday, Ms. Avilez’s family was able to raise the money with support from Freedom For Immigrants, a local non-profit organization supporting the immigrant community.  Ms. Avilez is flying to San Jose, California today, the closest airport to Gonzalez, California, where she lives.

“Freedom for Immigrants is proud to support Lexis in her release by helping to pay a $10,000 bond through our National Bond Fund,” said Christina Mansfield, Co-Founder and Co-Executive Director of Freedom for Immigrants. “We believe no one should be imprisoned in abusive ICE jails and prisons. Lexis is a fierce advocate for not only herself, but for other transgender women incarcerated in our country’s inhumane immigrant detention system “

The transgender community remains one of the most vulnerable groups whom ICE detains throughout the country as they often face abusive and unsafe conitions. 

During her detention, after months of ignoring her medically-necessary care and refusal to detain her with other females, ICE transferred Ms. Avilez to Alvarado, Texas, on Christmas evening without notice to her attorney, and away from her family and community support. 

“ICE and the county officers knew how difficult detention was for me and had no compassion for the way they detained me and moved me around like I meant nothing,” said Ms. Avilez. “I am very thankful to everyone who has supported me and I am looking forward to continue my gender confirmation treatment, advocate for the release of my transgender sisters and brothers suffering in detention, and live freely as my authentic self.” 

Ms. Avilez’s immigration case continues. She is currently seeking to reopen her immigration case based on her new gender transition circumstances and her fear of torture or even death should she be deported to her country of birth, Mexico. 

“While we are not done fighting for Ms. Avilez, today, for the first time in 17 months, she will be able to be free at home, together with her loved ones,” said Vega. “We will continue to work with her in order to ensure her safety in the United States. For now, we are relieved that she is home, safe from the egregious treatment of her detention, and able to live her life as her true self.”

San Francisco Public Defender Statement on  First Confirmed Case of Coronavirus in San Francisco County Jail

“While we knew it was nearly inevitable the virus would make its way into the jail, I am still deeply concerned to learn today that an incarcerated person in the San Francisco County Jail system tested positive for Coronavirus. This is the exact scenario my team has fought day in and day out to avoid by reducing the jail population. That this confirmed case comes after a substantial jail population reduction demonstrates why we have not been content to rest on the tremendous work done thus far, and why we continue to fight for people to be released. 

It is vital that the jail population reduction work not only continue but accelerate. Despite the reductions in the jail population, multiple strangers still share sinks, toilets, and bunk beds. These conditions prevent social distancing and proper hygiene and continue to be dangerous for everyone living or working inside the jails.

I recognize the work that has already been done across multiple city agencies in an effort to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in our jail system, but any positive test poses a direct threat to the safety and security of the jail population and makes clear that more must be done. We need to continue taking preventative measures to prevent the spread of the virus, rather than waiting for the situation to get worse. This must not be a repeat of what happened at MSC South, San Francisco’s largest congregate homeless shelter.

For this reason, I am calling on the courts and the Sheriff to continue releasing as many individuals from the jail as possible and to ensure that all people who remain are provided personal protective equipment, adequate cleaning supplies, soap, hand sanitizer, and information that will help them remain healthy. Those housed in our jails deserve to be safe and treated with dignity both during their incarceration and upon release. This is also why my office has worked hard to ensure that every one of our clients released is met with support and the safest available place to go. 

I am also calling on the Human Services Agency and the Department of Public Health to immediately implement the Board of Supervisors Ordinance passed this Tuesday requiring that the City procure 8,250 additional private hotel rooms for people without homes. This ordinance includes the requirement that hotel rooms be provided to people coming out of our jail system who have no place to go, and we must make those rooms available as soon as possible.

Finally, I am calling on the San Francisco Police Department to continue reducing the number of people being arrested and booked into the jail. Today’s news, combined with the state-wide Emergency Bail Schedule implemented this week, means that we should completely cease arresting and booking people on misdemeanors and low-level felonies. Under the Emergency Bail Schedule, these offenses now require zero dollar bail amounts, meaning people booked on these charges will be immediately released from the jail. Therefore, police should move to a cite-and-release system for all of these offenses, since they will be released regardless. 

This is a do-or-die situation, requiring aggressive and urgent action across all our city departments. We cannot afford to be reckless with the lives of anyone in our community – especially those most at risk and least able to protect themselves. We must keep going. This virus does not discriminate.”

Mano Raju, San Francisco Public Defender

San Francisco Public Defender Mano Raju’s Statement on the Board of Supervisors Legislation to Close CJ4

April 14, 2020

“After months of collaborating with Supervisor Fewer’s office and community partners on the legislation to close County Jail 4, I am proud that it will be introduced at the Board of Supervisors meeting today.

County Jail 4 has been a known public health risk for decades: it has been deemed seismically unsound, people are crammed together in tiny cells, and sewage sometimes backs up into sleeping areas.

The COVID-19 pandemic has raised these urgent concerns to an emergency level. Social distancing and safe “sheltering-in-place” is impossible in conditions where multiple strangers must share one toilet, one sink, and sleep on shared bunk beds. While all congregate living spaces within the jails raise concerns during this pandemic, County Jail 4 has always been by far the worst. 

My office will continue our work to improve conditions inside the jails, while also fighting for people to be released. The most effective way to protect people from COVID-19 continues to be releasing them from jail and allowing them to safely isolate. Our efforts to release as many people as possible from our jail system has helped reduce the population to 40 percent below the average daily population. 

I also want to make clear that there has been a steady decline in crime, arrests, and jail bookings in San Francisco even before the pandemic began. Because of our low levels of crime, and the shrinking jail population, I am confident that we can close this jail without investing in building another jail or sending people out of county. 

The COVID-19 crisis has shined a light on just how important it is for us to be looking at all of our systems, including our public safety systems, through a public health lens. I believe that now, more than ever, we have both the responsibility and the opportunity to reexamine our response to harm and the needs of our community with more dignity and care.”

Mano Raju, San Francisco Public Defender

Public Defender Mano Raju Says “Zero Bail” measure is critical tool to prevent spread of COVID19 in jails throughout the state

Today’s Emergency Bail Schedule implementation means people should be released from jails throughout the state starting at 5pm

San Francisco — On April 6, the Judicial Council of California voted to implement a set of 11 emergency rules to help address the COVID-19 crisis. Those measures included an Emergency Bail Schedule, effective today, which will eliminate cash bail for misdemeanors and most low-level felony offenses with the goal of safely reducing jail populations across California. 

The Emergency Bail Schedule applies to people currently held in jail pre-trial, and anyone arrested on the applicable offenses while the emergency rule is in place. The emergency bail schedule outlines 13 exceptions, allowing money bail to be set according to local bail schedules for people arrested for serious or violent felonies, domestic violence, DUIs, and several other offenses.

“I applaud the implementation of the Emergency Bail Schedule, and the Judicial Council’s recognition of the vital role courts play in safely reducing the number of people in jails across California. People forced into congregate spaces like jails are at risk of serious illness and death, and we need to release as many people as we can across the state” said San Francisco Public Defender Mano Raju. “It is always unjust that some people are held in jail simply because they cannot afford to purchase their freedom. Reducing the number of people held pretrial solely because they can’t afford bail will allow court resources to be used more effectively and ensure California continues to flatten the curve.”

“Due to these statewide changes, we should see an increase in people released from jails throughout the state starting today.  Local jurisdictions are required to apply the new bail schedule to every person in pretrial custody and every newly arrested person at 5:00 p.m. today,” said Raju. 

“Furthermore, police departments throughout the state should cease arrests immediately for offenses now carrying a  $0 bail amount, and should instead move to a cite-and-release system in order to save critical law enforcement resources and reduce exposure to officers, jail staff, and citizens who would otherwise be brought to jail, booked, and immediately released with an order to return to court at a future date,” said Raju.

“My office and many others have been fighting for years to end money bail because it is a wealth-based system that does not center public safety. Though it has taken an international public health crisis to get us here and the remaining money bail system is still discriminatory and ineffective, this is a big step in the right direction,” said Raju. “Our community is grateful.”

Emergency Rules are here: https://jcc.legistar.com/View.ashx?M=F&ID=8234474&GUID=79611543-6A40-465C-8B8B-D324F5CAE349