i'm here just as a regular citizen. so, i am so glad to hear as a native and lifelong san franciscan about all of the alternatives to incarceration that the city has been pursuing and very, very successfully and i hope we do have bail reform. and i'm concerned many of the people we do have in our jail are awaiting trial simply because they can't come up with bail. that said, if we must have a jail, i do believe that it should be in san francisco. i have a serious concern about families having to go out to san bruno. i have a concern about our volunteers. i work with -- i'm a volunteer with an organization that goes into the jails and i'm concerned about our volunteers having to go out to san bruno into -- away from the area where they live. i volunteer while we live in san francisco, we have to go out there. the families, many of the families do have to take public

transportation and there's almost no public transportation out there. it is a long way from here if you've got to take the bus. let me tell you. the last stop is -- maybe you could call it bart, but really it's over there at san francisco state and it's a great hardship for people. we work to help parents, incarcerated parents stay in contact with their children through reading programs. and unfortunately it's hard for the children to visit their parents. we work so hard and the parents are working so hard to stay connected to their families and we need to do everything we can. if we must have incarcerated people, to make things as easy as possible. thank you. ~ >> thank you. next speaker. hello, my name is kimberly roar balk. i don't have too much to say that hasn't already been said ~ regarding however people's

concerns about families and family connectivity and access. it's my understanding that when san brewin owe was full there were shuttles going back and forth with no budgetary impact between the city and the facility. i venture to guess that the money that a new jail would cost, not to mention the bond money on san bruno that somebody mentioned, far exceeds the expense of actually transporting family members and/or attorneys to and from. so, i just wanted to say that. jenny friedenbach from the coalition on homelessness stated that 27% of the people in the county jail are homeless. so, i think that if there was bail reform that would clear

out about a third of the current population. finally, i agree with dorothy. one, it' frustrating here to be speaking against a jail that doesn't need to be built, where the other side is basically grasping for straws to justify a new jail ~. and i just wonder what's going on here. somebody has a financial interest in building a new jail and some politician who shall not be mentioned perhaps is backed by whatever party has an interest in building a new jail and, you know, that's all i can figure out. but i'm against it. (applause) >> i have a couple more speakers. thank you. rachel less and lori nierny. i apologize if i mispronounce the name. please go ahead. and any member of the public who has not spoken would like to speak, please line up.

hello. my name is marlene morgan and i'm speaking as a member of the community coalition around sutter cpmc. and there's a lot of similarities between what we're talking about today and talking about rebuilding hospitals in san francisco. we're talking about rebuilding beds. we're talking about closing facilities, centralizing facilities, consolidation. we haven't even gotten into the issue of land use, traffic, environmental issues. but when we first came before the board and before the planning commission eight years ago, the corporation that was sponsoring a redesign of our health care in san francisco were very convinced that they had the answer, that they knew what the best outcome was going to be, they knew what the best practices were going to be, the best outcomes for health care. and in our eight years of push back as a community coalition, actually every single thing that we started with was a wrong assumption.

what we've seen in the last period of time is a change of philosophy, a change in legislation, a change in funding, a change in technology that made it a bad idea to consolidate all health care services in one location and close all the other ones. so, we had a great victory because of this community coalition and the help of the board, i want to say, that were very involved. but we had a great mediated settlement between the mayor's office, the board, the community coalition, and the sponsor to get an outcome that created a really good -- good future with san francisco health care. i really support chief still's proposal to do more research, to think carefully, to step back, to look around and to see if we can have a better outcome in the next 15 months. and then we can see what's going to work for us. thanks a lot. >> thank you very much. next speaker.

good afternoon, supervisors. debby lerman. i am with the san francisco human services network and we are opposing the construction of the new jail. community based services and alternatives to incarceration are the most effective and the most cost-effective way to both prevent crime and reduce recidivism. rather than spending money on a new jail, the city could achieve savings and reduce the jail population to investment in substance abuse and mental health treatment reentry services, homeless serve is he, programs that reduce poverty, violence prevention, work force development, education, supportive housing, and services for at-risk youth. in other words, investment in people. prevention and treatment approaches are better than institutionalization for a community as a whole and they are far more likely to increase public safety.

and also community-based alternatives to incarceration are consistent with our city's values of compassion and belief in the potential of every individual. so, we urge you to make san francisco a leader in progressive criminal justice by rejecting the proposal to build another jail. thank you. >> thank you. next speaker, please. [speaker not understood] and i am opposed to the jail. first i'd like to point out that nearly all of the public comments have been in opposition to the jail, which is very telling of how the community feels about this plan. i'm also a graduate of san francisco state and i come from a working class family and i would not have been able to graduate from school if it were not for the financial aid that i received and graduated

without any student loans or debt. and had i had a criminal family record, that would not have been possible and i would not have a degree right now. and, so, be i'm here to address the causes that our people are ending up in jail and helping them. i'd also want to talk a little bit about the transportation costs and the possibility of using san bruno. first, the estimates are much higher than they could possibly be and i urge you to investigate that data a little bit more. also the talks about the buses for family members going to visit their loved ones. first, the shortest transportation would be for the family members to be in the house with their family and not breaking up the families. second of all, there's all this cost of [speaker not understood] project. what about wanting to be

cheaper anyway for -- to improve the public transit if that was the issue that there's no buses. there seems to be a lot of money for other things. also i just wanted to say it doesn't make sense as a sheriff, kind of re-appropriating some of our language and talking about [speaker not understood] more communities of color and not keep it out of sight out of mind. >> thank you. but locking people up is ignoring them. >> thank you. next speaker. good afternoon, supervisors and members of the community. i want to thank you for holding this hearing today. my name is barbara atard. i'm a police accountability consultant. i'm here representing the lawyers guild. i'm also a long-it time city employee, retired city employee.

i worked during reentry for the sheriff's department many years ago with the office of citizen complaints dealing with police misconduct issues. i'll be brief. i think that the previous speakers have made excellent points. the inmate population is decreasing. building a new jail is counterproductive. what we should be spending money on is alternatives to incarceration, to solving the problems that have resulted in racial disparities in the jail population. some of these alternatives include restorative justice programs, mental health services, bail reform, increased pretrial alternatives, solutions to homelessness and building affordable housing, gang abatement programs, drug programs, and educational support for at-risk youth and adults. in closing, i just want to emphasize that the only solution that makes sense for keeping families together is to

keep families -- family members out of jail and prison. thank you. >> thank you very much. next speaker. thank you, supervisors, and thank you for hearing me. my name is andrew mendes. i'm a formerly homeless resident of san francisco and like the district attorney said -- the public defender said, that people are in jail because they're poor. there's only two types of americans. there are americans who are -- who have access to health care and education based on their family's economic status and there are those who are denied access to health care and education based on their family's economic status. when i became homeless it was essentially for the reason became homeless, mommy and daddy were not there to help. i think everybody knows if we build that prison who is going to go there and why?

so, don't do it. a good -- my favorite supervisor said to me one time, if you only have a hammer, all of your problems will look like nails. so, just keep that in mind. and there are obviously ways to fix a problem, ways to not fix a problem. so, if i can it. ~ fix it. thanks. >> thank you very much. next speaker. (applause) good afternoon, my name is jeff caldwell. i'm a commander with san bruno police department. i'd like to first off acknowledge the working relationship we've had with the san francisco sheriff's department for decades. as you may or may not be aware, the jail has been a fixture in the community of san bruno for in excess of well over 75 years. if i could echo what chief greg suhr said earlier this

afternoon, adjacent to that facility is a bedroom community, it's residential primarily in addition to a community college. having that in mind, any change to that operation or that facility and/or rebuilding or anything down there, there is a potential for an impact to the members of our community as well as that school. therefore, i'd like to formally and respectfully request that the supervisors keep the city of san bruno abreast of the developments of this discussion down the road and months to come. thank you. >> thank you very much, officer. and we definitely will. thank you very much for your patience. next speaker. i'm [speaker not understood] and i'm a nurse so, of course, i have a perspective, the perspective of people's well-being and health and also the well-being of the community. and in terms of mental health, about 40% of the people in the jails have mental health issues. and jails are not places to heal. the clinics that i've worked in

that was even a stretch. people with paranoid schizophrenia, jails just are not therapeutic places. about 10 years ago i went to the old baker center to hear a presentation about the missouri project for youth, and i think it would also relate to adults. they had community-based alternatives, group homes, emphasis on treatment, not punishment, case management, mental health treatment as well as substance use treatment, a 40% about had mental illness diagnoses. a percentage were homeless also. and they had decreased recidivism compared to most other states. this was a division of youth services in missouri. and i would like to see that happen in san francisco, community-based alternatives. the mayor had said that he's committed to fast tracking

building housing including affordable housing. we'll see how affordable it is. but would he be if he also committed to building board and care home supportive housing for people who need it to prevent homelessness, and also to choose housing instead of going to jail. in addition to the mental illness is people have a lot of history of trauma and abuse and this is also not helped in a correctional facility. i'm also worried about gentrification increasing arrests because i know in my neighborhood, in the mission, a lot of people and downtown are being swept out. >> thank you. next speaker. hi, my name is tash. i'm here representing the youth [speaker not understood], increasing graduation, not incarceration, transforming education. we also came from santa cruz.

i grew up here in san francisco and just want to talk about how ignite feels as well as how i feel. i think that san francisco's success and effectiveness in its programming should not be contingent on opening another jail. the sheriff is right. the jail is deplorable, but san francisco's mental health services, public and community colleges, public schools and community colleges, youth centers, drug treatment centers, all of these things that prevent people from being funneled into jail in the first place are also deplorable as well. if the sheriff and elected officials worked diligently with the community to invest time, energy, and money into these resources that truly prevent people from being in here, we wouldn't be faced with this in the first place. i also want to note that jail is not a conducive learning environment no matter how expansive the programs may be and no matter how nice the facilities may be. it's also very contradictory and practical to be offering the state-of-the-art programs

so people in the grips of poverty. after we've turned them away from the family, after we put them in the violent process of being incarcerated and ripping them of any job opportunity anyway. i think that in the time it would take to build another jail, we could -- i think it is the sheriff's job to work in line with the judicial system on bail and sentencing reform as well as reassess the criminal confinement of people in poverty. our community knows what it means and we do not need another jail. (applause) >> thank you. next speaker. hello, my name is norm miska. i'd like to thank most people who have spoken already. i'm not going to repeat the nuts and bolts that people have brought up many time. i just have a limerick i wrote right now, thought you might like it. mirkarimi once wanted a jail. his plan surely was doomed to fail. he asked for some cash, but there was backlash because his

ideas were stale. thank you. (applause) >> thank you. next speaker. hi, i'm rachel [speaker not understood] with the u.s. prostitutes collective. we wanted to register our opposition to [speaker not understood]. we think that should be addressed, not a new jail. more of us are being criminalized every day just for trying to survive. we're being pushed into crimes of poverty like prostitution, shop lifting, selling drugs, being homeless, and pushed into jail. so, it's really the increasing criminalization of just surviving that's filling up the jails with poor people and that's really what needs to be addressed, not a new jail. i mean, we're being told that there is some bureaucratic reason why that money can't be put into services. you know, we just don't buy that. we know that there's capital money could be -- there are all

kinds of way ways to divert money. we just don't accept that it can't be ~ put into desperately needed resources for people. most second workers are mothers, single mothers trying to feed kids and put food on the table. and if women had money and didn't have to be illegal to support ourselves and our children, then fewer women would be in jail. many young homeless youth, trans people and others turn to prostitution as a survival mechanism and the most vulnerable among us, you know, the black, immigrant, and other women of color are being targeted by the police [speaker not understood] and ending up in jail. so, it's criminal for the city to be spending money on the new jail where that money should be diverted into resources. thanks. >> thank you. (applause) >> next speaker, please. hi, my name is lori naren and i'm speaking for clear strike which is part of the

global women's strike. we're also here to say no to the new jail for san francisco. whether [speaker not understood] identified or not, we are a high rate of those who get arrested and go to jail. we are being criminalized due to poverty and inequality which has worn us down. we suffer from discrimination, low wages, no incomes and violence, especially for lgbtq people of color. poverty and economic inequality must be addressed to end our crises, not criminalization. last june there were horrific statistics that came out during pride about the high number of lgbtq young people homeless in san francisco. thises was followed by the rate of lgbtq elders committing suicide because of poverty. 29% of homeless population in san francisco identify as

lgbtq. as queers we have often been forced to leave families due to violence, bullying and home phobia and we end up on the streets to this day. ~ homophobia when we end up on the streets, we're vulnerable to be arrested, exposed to violence and ending up in jail. queer or not, when we are in jail or prison, our loved ones suffer and have to do an additional work load as a result. it's a huge amount of work, getting the loved ones out of jail, keeping their dignity or helping them deal with the enormous trauma and abuse of jail. so, for these reasons, we say no to this jail plan. thank you. >> thank you. next speaker. (applause) good afternoon, supervisors. i will try to be mercifully brief. my name is david [speaker not understood], i'm the chief of staff for san mateo county dave pine. i'm here to echo the sentiments

of the officer you heard from san bruno. we realize for many outside of san francisco, it seems like for those living here the vacuum of space is all on the outside. i assure you that is not the case. there is a community in san brewin owe better neighborhood, college and churches. for better or for worse, they will be part of this dialogue and may end up being or playing a role in the solution to the internal challenges that you're going to wrestle with. so, we ask only humbly that and respectfully that you keep that community in mind and also keep us in the loop. we came a little late to this and [speaker not understood] the documents you have before you today. so, hopefully as the process goes forward, maybe we could be at the table to some degree realizing we are not your constituents, nor your taxpayers. so, we thank you for your consideration. >> thank you, supervisor mar. >> i was going to say welcome

back, mr. baruto. please congratulate i think supervisor pine on being the president of the -- our sister county down south. but thank you. >> and we'll be happy to make sure that we can communicate with you and give you all the information. next speaker. hello, my name is larry edmonds. [speaker not understood]. this is a book i want to display. it's called [speaker not understood]. okay, there you go. the book is called "the black man handbook." and the first thing i read, it tells you how to talk to the policemen. slowly, take a ticket and don't run because you may be killed. and, so, and the jail system here, one thing that i notice people advocated [speaker not understood], who helped me a

lot, disability action network have helped me a lot in living in san francisco. people are forgetting that while we want more peep to go to jail in this city, why we have people building [speaker not understood] is because there is 30 to [speaker not understood] that live in s-r-os. that is a form of jail. our rights, we don't have rights [speaker not understood]. we often see the police a lot so we already have maybe 100,000 people who are going to be going in that circle. i don't want anyone to enter jail and i don't want them to reenter. but a lot of this money that can be saved, needs to be target today people living in the s-r-o, lgbt seniors with disability in these hotels that we're not getting the mental health services that you're saying we want to give the people after they get in jail. we're all the same people, everyday people and it should start with people in shelters and in the s-r-os and we won't

have any jails because we are connected to each other. and we don't want to be that revolving door that we keep seeing what's going on now. so, this is a very important day to be advocating for housing and services and not more jail. >> thank you very much. (applause) >> is there any other member of the public who has not spoken who would like to speak? seeing none, public comment is closed. colleagues, i know that we are about to lose a quorum of this committee. so, i want to give an opportunity to say anything else, but i do want to thank all of the members of the public who have patiently waited to speak, who have come to this very important hearing. i again want to thank all of the government agencies that have been involved in this matter, including, of course, our budget and legislative analyst and campbell specifically for the great work that they have done. to our sheriff's department. to the mayor's office. to, of course, the capital

planning committee. to all of the law enforcement agencies that have been a part of this discussion, including the public defender, the district attorney, the chief of juvenile probation. thank you for that. i also want to thank all of the community advocates who have been contacting all of us and providing information and input. you know, i think that we are moving in the right direction. and even though there are differences of opinion, i think there is also a lot of common ground. and what i hope happens is essentially what i heard from many people and i think the chief of adult probation said it well. i think that we have an opportunity to get more information, especially as time come through -- as time pass he he. from my perspective, i think that we need to let the facts guide us to the right result, whether that is no jail or a new jail of a specific size.

i think that we need to do in the end what is in the best interest of not only the population that's there, but of the entire community in a way that is consistent with the values of san francisco. and i think that it is pretty remarkable with this kind of discussion happens because in most jurisdictions outside of, you know, stepping back and looking at the positive and the commonality, it's really an only in san francisco type of debate that we can have this kind of discussion. other jurisdictions would look at it in a very different way so i'm very proud that we in san francisco have a different take. supervisor mar. >> yeah, i just wanted to really quickly say i really appreciate sheriff mirkarimi for being here for the whole hearing and different staff, like cathy gold wood and others for really focusing on this and the community based and progressive organizations that are here. i have a lot of respect for the work that you do every day, from the work with critical resistance and other groups

that form curb to in the community efforts that you are involved in. i'll just say off the top that i think the data, as supervisor campos said, should drive our decision making. but after visiting san bruno and the hall of justice, i absolutely agree that we need to rebuild the jail to make it more humane and to focus on the restorative justice type programs that the sheriff has led and as a progressive effort of criminal justice in our city. but i think it's not an either/or. we have to support the community based programs, focus on mental health, on drug treatment and other things that people have talked about. and i know that as the budget committee looks at our budget and as a master plan comes together on criminal justice, that my hope is that we don't look at this as an either/or, and we try to do both. i think ms. campbell and the budget analyst office numbers, i'll have to look carefully at the projections of the decline of the prison population. and as tim redmond and others have written in 48 hills and other places our goal should be to drastically reduce the

prison population and have incentives to do that. and, in fact, he eliminates the need for it. but until we can do that, i think we have to make sure that there is a humane facility that we have for the people who are incarcerated where their families have access and that we look at the numbers critically of the economics of the transportation costs and other factors that the budget analyst has really focused on. but i'll just say that i thank everyone for the great testimony and i look forward to more communication about this as we look to create both a strong alternative to incarceration, but also a humane jail facility as well. >> thank you very much, supervisor. and one thing that i just in terms of process, i know that there is additional information that we want to get and there is certainly additional review that we would like to ask the budget and legislative analyst to do. so, with the understanding that there will be future discussions and that this is the first of a number of hearings on this, can i have a motion to continue to the call of the chair?

we have a motion to continue to the call of the chair. without objection, without objection, the matter is continued to the call of the chair. [gavel] >> mr. clerk, do we have any other business before this committee? >> that concludes today's agenda, mr. chair. >> before i do that, i want to thank carolyn goose enin my staff who spent tremendous deal of energy to put this together. thank you, carolyn. meeting is adjourned. [gavel]