i spent a year as a guest of the state in prison. that was the best part of being incarcerated. the worth part of jail is the first 72 hours when we develop people out. i spent six, seven years as an organizer. there are a lot of homeless folks with there family. if you hear i am locked up wait a couple days before you call my mom. if i am in there 25 hours call my mom. i get an update on them because they have died of an overdose by using it. they are dead now. our system does kill if you are inside or not. it is a complete race much cam.

wwe are the best city. we have to to be saying that. if we can find four ways to disrupt laundry we can find an alternative to locking them up. don't report them up in the first place. thank you. >> i am a community member and with no new jails sf. i wanted to say that every day you prolong the closure is a time to communicate the words from people in the jails as well as making sure that everyone is heard. person and said i need water fountains. it would give me hope to keep going. hydration is big. i need ways to keep healthy,

water and food to stay healthy. plant fruit trees instead of wasting money it would be nice to have aquarium to give me someplace. >> shelter beds are needed. it costs money to have people in jail. a said put more stationary places to take somehow weres. some paceis i am at 1600 dollars. someone stole it at the bus stop. i hope you take the time tolis sin to what they shade. there are amazing community volunteering on the ground doing the work. we can no longer wait.

>> next speaker. >> i am spencer hudson resident of district 8. i am here to ask the board of supervisors to close the unsafe jail with no new jail like construction and oppose use of out-of-county facilities. i am not allowed. i am dismayed of the comments when he claims to hear more about public safety on the streets. he has never confined what it is. in his district a voleter is usually white. -- a voter is usually white.

he represents not just white voters, to people who cannot afford a home or foot or mental care. he needs to learn to acknowledge not only his consit sents, the voices he should bovis senning to. when he says he is hearing more concerns about public safety? whose public safety? not the white wealthy own owners. the victim of violence on the streets are homeless. they are by our police with increased peeps. i wish my supervisor would learn these things and act

accordingly. thank you. >> next speaker. >> i am christine weigh a member of the san francisco chapter of showing up for racial justice. san francisco supporting shutting down the 850. this is very, very much. 56% of people in jail are black, 40% are homeless, 30 prosecutor in need of health care. that is not to mention shoe gets de taped people babyingible housed, poor, disabled, transed and quiche are arrested by police. by dragging our feet we are ignoring the most vulnerable

haven't been quicked this is unacceptable. >> as someone who is thinking about building a family in san francisco, i want to address this idea of public last. trust. have the resources and opportunities to heal and flourish and be age to be -- abo participate. it is the well-being of the city. i would like to ask you to take action toward this progressive

vision we like to pop-up and to be accountable to all constituents including the marginalized and those who are in the family. >> next speaker. >> supervisors and to my boss, i stand today to represent san francisco pre-trial diversion. i could go over what is said. i have a story. i want to let everyone know we know a case management, we are on the ground with all people that no one wants to do good. our numbers speak for themselves. in the middle of this uncertainty. we are still moving forward and expanding.

i am the supervisor to the road to recovery program. have we not only moved from when he get out of jail now it is in custody. we are ready to pink on any responsibility given to us. we are ready and willing to provide support and care and stand at the forefront of justice. we will stand in the gap between the justice system. it is good to see you, brother. thank you. >> thank you. next speaker. >> i am bryan cox with the public center's office in the public policy unit. we should look to reduce the population at 850 bryant.

the working group for the replacement project made two recommendations the board can scan now. >> clearing warrantsveycuses the time a individual may be up to five days. this requires little time and can save crucial resources. second they will allow declines to pros kite the indicate folks would serve resources. first the period should opportunity the project. bolstering the pre-trial would curtail the jail population

without adding unnecessary risk. people code section 825 entitleds the defendant to see the judge. this is when they do not file charges by releasing folks. we should demand enforcement of the law enforcement that individuals do not go to jail in the first place. in april 348 referrals were made. half are white. these are ways to reduce the population of 850. we can implement right now. to say it cannot be done is not accurate. i encourage the board to exercise that will. >> thank you. i am john lindsey. we are active members of the

audit new new jails on callition. to reiterate a that santa claria is not an option. they have a culture of cruelty which is really turning the stomach when you hear the stories. don't do it. second, you have all of the evidence. as the speaker said you have all of the alternatives for cancervation at 850 bryant. sometimes when jails are built they get filled. that is what is likely to happen. everywhere in calwhen new jails get built, they get filled.

sty you have a hammer. it looks like a nail. i am certain that concerns would be dresses by options that come up in that jail is closed dome and next year. campuses are education sites. jails are places where they put people. the use of that language is covering up the fact a new jail is not legitimate. >> thank you, next speaker. >> i am the president of the deputy sheriffs. i represent the deputy shares. i want to bring up a couple issues. thanthank you for your time and

thank the professionals that spoke on the to be. no new jail couldallation i was at a similar hearing a year ago. make honing continue on issues. what i realize is this layer he. there seemed to be more of an organized o haven't. in the last couple days there are postings for people to come here and passionately about a topic they are terned with.

what came to mean. comwe hired a research firm and they polled the registered voters on two topics. contracting ought jail services. you should have them this if you find the majority of the voters supported a new facility. they opposed the contracting out of jail services to another ja jail.

>> quick question. can you continue? >> super visor walton after public comment is closed. >> a representative of law enforcement. >> you suggest after public comment w we might bring him bak in. >> you get two minutes. they have one further detail. >> i am a volunteer with critical resistance. it has been 24 years since the 1996 announcement that 850 bryant was seismically unsafe. it has been unsafe since opening, that is 24 years of added mass incarceration, locking up more people. 24 years of deaths.

generations of families separated. it is frustrating to come to the meetings every six months or so where there is clear community voice and demand that nails and prisoning are not safe. there is a reason why we a jail in the first place to have clear solutions to implement. when you are touched by the prison system, they don't tell you trauma is a chronic ilbless. they treat the wounded within cancervation. how is a -- incarceration. how is the person to heal behind the cage? we have been here too many times to leave without concerning being hard, without demands

meted and closure of 850 bryant. >> thank you. next speaker. >> i am a lifetime resident of district eight and registered voter along with many of the people that have spoken today. just responding to what people said about public safety and echoing what they said. locking up people before being convicted did not make me safe at all. the arrest of helpless folks in the city is public endangerment. who are you trying to keep safe? one thing is that it is unsafe. we have said it many times, close it now. listen to those who know how to

keep the community safe. there are people keeping communities safe for longer than i have been alive. they are doing this work every day in our city. collabberate with them. once again, close the jail by july 2020, no new jails and no transfers to other counties. >> next speaker. >> jackie, dsa. democratic at this time socialists rose that jail secures the violence arrest and forced labor. the cities answer has been to throw people to jail. nothing symbolizes this failed polethan 850 jail.

we have an his tor lick to recognize the dignity of the communities had their mental health needs. you heard over 40% are homeless. it is fueled by the increased imnallization tears an part communities. use the millions and invest in supportive treatments out punishment clinics and increased case managers. create supervised release programs to allow defendants to wait for trial outside of jail. close the jail. >> thank you next speaker.

>> hello. i am the fifth generation from san francisco. i work in supervisor for people in the jail iche. we have heard from not quite the right people. the first time i was arrested in march 2018. i have been arrested three times in june 20178. i am homeless and stick up for the rights of the homeless folks. one jail is in jail because of a history. what am i doing now? arrested for riding a bike on the sidewalk. cops wanted a job and the labels

happen. another person sass my little brother and big sister are in jail. it feels suffocating. if they build the new jail they will bring more people in. i want to mention i learned i have a cousin locked up for a month on $1,000 bail, and he suffered from bipolar disorder and struggling where depression and performed tsd. i can only imagine how difficult it would be to struggle. i don't think there is need for more studies or report when we have the knowledge from the people we have heard today. >> any other members of the public to speak?

public comment is closed. >> can you continue with the results of the poll and tell us who was polled and where? >> i believe it is all in the information i provided you. it breaks do you know how it was done per district. gender, ethnicity, age, how it was done and who did it and the fairness of it. >> great. supervisor haney. >> thank you, committee members for having this hearing. thank you to sheriff he to the r staying the entire time and to everybody here and gave comment and who is fighting here for so many different hearings.

i thank you for being here. there are a cup tell take aways i have. this conversane ever session is not over. we agree the facility needs closed. i believe it needs closed immediately. it should have been closed before. you know, the fact we had an announcement yesterday from the mayor saying it would be closed in 2021 is a delay from what was said earlier. the city administrator said it should be closed this year. >> i am concerned about the lack of a plan. i was hoping we would get more details what is going to happen now.

what are the immediate stones i? my fear is that the result is trying to back us into something we should not be doing. the sheriff herself said it would be horrible to send people to alameda county. why are we acting as that is a viable option. if we haven't done any planning to close in the right way. the only optionsh isala mead do cat. that would be the worst we are headed towards. whatever the work that has been

done and th the things we have n doing. folks on pre-trial. there is a lot to do if we, i think, commit to getting this done by reducing the population, looking at alternatives. here in san francisco. i do not support sending folks to another county or building a new jail. i support a plan to move forward and close this facility as soon as possible. in a smart way and way to build on the work done to think about alternatives. lastly, i appreciate the point earlier to bring public saves in this.

we have talked about the people in there who are working there who are incarsservated there. if you are spending time in there and not getting any sort of effective services and therapy and rehabilitation that is not the way we keep all of us safe and make sure we invest in a community where there we can live here safely. i do feel like we need more details and a real plan we haven't seen yet. my commitment is to engage with the sheriff and the mayor and our cog league esand to hear the you are been genese incarcerate.

>> thank you. do the members of the committee have anything to add? supervisor haney, is it your desire to continue this or have this heard and filed? >> i woe like to continue it. >> continue to the call of the chair. >> i move we continue to the call of the chair. take that without objection. mr. clerk. any other items before us today? >> no further business. >> we are adjourned. thank you.

>> all right, everyone, we're going to reconvene. i'm going to ask folks to quiet down, sit down. we've been joined by supervisor haney. and i believe we have already called item three, correct? we have not? we have. >> i'm happy to do it again. >> no. once is enough. but since we do have a number of few folks who entered the chamber, perhaps you can say how we work. >> please don't stand in the chamber.

we should have enough seats for everyone. please also respect the board rule, 3.1, prohibition against applause or any other kind of vocal interruption of the meaning today, and any displaying of any signage you have brought in here. and please no eating and drinking here. >> but can indicate their approval of things said or disapproval of things that have been said, but we ex ask that folks not boo or cheer because this is going to be a long hearing, and we would like to move it along. so with that, supervisor aan ne,haney, this is your item. >> thank you, chair mandelman and committee members. i appreciate you all for having this hearing here and for your patience. i'm going to provide some opening comments and then we have a number of presenters, and i want to thank them for being here. and i'll announce them

after my comments. we are holding this hearing, which i called, along with my colleagues president yee, supervisors ronan browning, for a very simple reason: we have to close the jail at 850 bryant. it is far past the time for a time and plan to do so. the building has been marked for demolition since 1996, other than 20 years ago. the city administrator called for the jail to be closed by the end of this year, 2019. despite this, no active plan exists to close the jail. no one believes that this building is safe. i met with the key city officials on this issue, all of whom have spoken out publicly. the sheriff, the city administrator's office, superior court judges and now the mayor, and they all agree this building is siseismicly unfit.

everyone who works there will be moved out of the building. the only group we don't have a plan for are the people incarcerated there, and the people who work directly with them. this is unacceptable, it is shameful, and it needs to change. everyone is in agreement that the jail should close and it will close as soon as possible. one city official actually told me that the building is so obviously unsafe and widely understood to be so, that our own department of building inspections could soon red tag it and close it themselves at any moment. a few months ago, i spent the morning at county jail number four, the jail on the seve seventh floor of 850 bryant. i toured the jail with my staff and the sheriff, and the jail is built in a linear style, forcing those incarcerate there'd thereo spend most of their day in old, crowded concrete

walls. most jails house individuals in pods with recreational space. is however, at 850 bryant, they are largely incarcerated thrin their cells for most of the day. people with severe mental illness has very little ongoing care, and are not in an environment fit for treatment. over 90% of people there have actually not been convicted of any crime yet. they are awaiting trial. many have been awaiting their day in court for months, or even years, and languish there because they cannot afford to pay bail or because of a lack of space in other facilities. continuing to house people in that facility is also an issue of public safety. people housed there need and deserve individualized treatment and rehabilitation, not concrete cell blocks. we are not safer as a community when individuals spend time in this jail without any support or treatment, and then

released back on the streets. the jail system also represents the grave racial and economic disparities of our criminal justice system. 45% of those held are african-american. almost 40% are unhoused. over 30% are in need of mental health care. 25% are under 25, and over 90% are being held pre-trial. these statistics should shock our moral conscience. san francisco can and must act to reduce criminalization, divert people from jail, and have more affective approaches to pre-trial and diversion. those on the seventh floor do not supervise themselves. sheriff's deputies and other employees, including doctors, nurses, and counsellors, and keeping this open is also a violation of workers' rights and endangers the safety of staff who work there. those trapped on the

seventh floor in the concrete cells do not get to go home, for the folks who live there, but this is also an incredible danger to the people who work there as well. a recent news article in 2017 alerted the public to the fact that the building would likely crumble in a major earthquake. just yesterday was an anniversary of one of our earthquakes, and 850 bryant treatmen street is not prepared and we need to act. in 2015, supervisors rejected new jail construction. since that time, there have been more than 10 hearings here, alternatives to jailing, mental health courts & behavioral services, along with countless meetings of working groups and associated committees. the clock has been ticking on this unsafe facility for a long time, and now is the time to act. yesterday mayor breed announced a delayed

closure of the jail at 850 bryant that would potentially keep people imprisoned until july 2021. despite the fact that the mayor announced a closure date of july 2021, which would shockingly mean people would live and work in this facility for another two years, we still don't have any details about how exactly that is going to happen. we don't know how much it is going to cost. we don't know what are options are as a policy body and with regard to the city. the mayor announced a site that would start construction in 2028 and presumably open in the 2030s. we don't know much about this facility, whether it would be a sort of replacement jail or what it would be used for, and we need to know those answers so that we can plan ahead and do the right thing for our city. the goal here is not to relitigate past decisions made by this board or

others. it is an opportunity to hear what our options are, plans and costs in more detail. the mayor says we're going to close this facility in two years, and even if we accepted that timeline, which i have serious concerns about, we have to have a plan in place now. we have heard the possibility that some individuals incarcerated at county jail four would be sent to santa rita jail. i and many others have serious concerns about this approach. these concerns have not been answered or addressed. it would be expensive, burdeburdensome, and would impact rehabilitation and reentry. there are not only concerns about costs and logistics, but most importantly questions about human rights. santa rita jail has a sketchy track record when it comes to people incarcerated there, and it has approaches that are not compatible with san francisco values when it

comes to cooperation in immigration officials. in july of this year, 93% of the 313 people incarcerated in jail number four were awaiting trial. many of those were either homeless or experiencing serious mental illness or addiction. with the focus that our city has on putting mental health care and treatment at the forefront, as well as prioritizing pre-trial reform, we should be planning right now for how we're going to transition many of piece individuals into mental health care, supportive housing, as well as more effective, less costly, more community-based pre-trial services, and i want to hear about our plans to do that. the longer we wait to plan for an affective, smart, and safe san francisco solution to closing this facility, the more constrained our decisions and options are, and the longer we place people in grave danger in this facility. the time for a plan is now. i want to thank, again, all of the departments. and i want to thank the

"no new jail" coalition who was very much involved in partnering with my office, and my staff, abbey river mesa, who did a lot of work on this as well. first wearing going to hear from the budget and legislative analysts. they did a report that was recently released that really broke down what exactly is happening at 850 bryant, what the costs are per individual, the staffing, and some of the things that have been done so far. in analyzing these numbers, i'm interested in hearing from all of our propertieds opresenters on whaty believe these numbers mean for our jail population and specifically for the closure of the jail. >> thank you, supervisor haney. we have been joined by supervisor fewer, and we have comments from supervisor wal toon and supervisor fewer. supervisor wal ton? >> i want to thank you for

calling this hearing and for everybody who has come up today. we have known for years that 850 bryant is seismicly unfit. we've had several discussions about how to best shut down this facility and accommodate both populations. the building is unfit for city employees, not just because of the seismicly unsafe conditions, but also due to the dilapidated state and overall wear and tear of a building that needs much attention and needs to be torn down. in addition, the jail is not fit to exist. the old school-style and prison-like ads fear is noprison-like atmosphere will never provide an opportunity for true rehabilitation to help individuals re-enter society. i, too, visited the jail with my team a couple of months ago and instantly knew this was an inhumane

facility. today we're hoping to hear how we will shut down 850 bryant, and make sure all people who use the building have a viable alternative that addresses everyone's needs. i want to thank the department, and naomi and her team, and the "no new jail" coalition for all of their work on this and for being here to come and witness this hearing and have the conversation about next steps. but we do need a real plan, a viable plan, that takes into consideration employees, as well as individuals housed in the jail, and how we're going to do that thoughtfully and appropriately for all populations. thank you. >> thank you, supervisor walton. supervisor fewer. >> thank you, chair. good morning, everyone. i want to associate myself with the comments of my colleagues. i appreciate this hearing and much of our conversation today is

about the closure of the hall of justice, specifically about the closure of county jail number four. but the way i'm looking at this issue is system-wide, and i am looking at the population across the entire jail system. essentially, i want to avoid a scenario where we have to send any people to santa rita or jails out of the county, which has been emphasized by supervisor haney. my office has talked to many departments, looking for strategies to further reduce the jail population. thank you, colleagues, for calling this hearing.

first of all, cost. that was a primary question that we were asked to address. and specifically the cost of not just the syrup -- share of's department but other departments that provide service to county jail number four as well. this table shows for fiscal year 20, the current fiscal year, as well as her 17-18, what the budgeted costs are for the sheriff, the real estate division, capital spending cost, and the department of public health costs. you can see here, for the current year, it is $19.9 million for just the sheriff, and then the real estate division and capital funding adds $755,000, and the department of public health, which is both jail health services and behavioral health is $4 million. the grand total for the current year is $24.7 million in costs

for the departments involved in county jail number four. that compares to fiscal year 2017 and 2018 at $22.9 million. about an eight% district -- increase. the budget has two and new $37 million a pop i think about 70 positions are deputy sheriff his. the department of public health provide 17 on an ongoing basis and those are a mix of health professionals, registered nurses , licensed vocational

nurses, health clinicians, behavioral health specialists and others. the department of public health staffing has been the same for the last few years. the share of's staffing has gone up by 1.95 positions over the last four years. there's other staffing costs, but they are in the form of contract services for psychiatric costs, which amounted to hundred $41,000 -- which amount to $141,000. it does not translate into a number of f.t.e. and now there are maintenance staff from the real estate division who provide services at the jail, but aren't quantified as positions with a full-time position. the share of's department compiles an average daily jail rate which is required by the state. they submit that to the state every year. it is used in some cases for billing other entities that may

have people in the jail, in the last ones submitted for fiscal year 2017 and 2018 is $250.11 per day per incarcerated individual. you can see the total jail costs that were compiled for that year and the average daily population , again, this is systemwide. was 1,274. population characteristics, a supervisor haney mentioned from this already, in terms of race and ethnicity, the largest group his african-american. it is 45-point 1% of the population. there were 313 individuals incarcerated on that date and a little under half were african-american. obviously very disproportionate to the population of san francisco. and then whites and hispanics, those three are combined at over 90% of the population.

in terms of crimes committed, what these individuals are booked on, most are crimes against the person, and that can be murder, attempted murder, burglary, strong arm burglary, crimes of that nature, and then property crimes, which are, for example, a residential burglary or commercial burglary as the second group. this set of charts captures the flow of the population through the jail and this is all about county jail number four. for july 31st, 2019, there had been, at that point, 10,920 bookings that had taken place for the calendar year 2018. a number of people are booked multiple times. the number of bookings is

actually 17,688, but as you can see, that is because on average there's 1.6 bookings per individual who come into the system. i thank you mentioned, supervisor haney, the second chart on the top there, the status of the individuals in jail. this is as of july 301st, 2019 almost all 93% were pretrial, awaiting trial. for the custody it level rating, and as i thank you probably all know, the share of's department classifies all individuals as they come into the system and they are given a rating of needing maximum security, medium security, or minimum security. based on the standardized system that the sheriff's department uses to classify individuals that are incarcerated, over half 172 or 55% are classified at the maximum level.

a high propensity for violence or high risk to the department. and then in terms of releases and length of stay, the final lower right chart, there were 17,556 releases in 2018. and what we think is interesting here is the comparison between the average length of stay and the median length of stay for the year. there's a big jump for the average. the median is only three days. there are many, many people who are in and out pretty quickly, but there's also a segment of the population that stays a long time. that is captured in the average numbers of 26.3 days versus the median. finally, some statistics on behavioral health services that are offered at county jail number four. this is for september 29 -- it over 2019 where the population was 322 as you can see on the bottom line there. over a third of those

individuals were under the care of behavioral -- behavioral health services. 118 of the 322, as shown there. the services used most often is it down the list a little bit there, individual therapy sessions. that doesn't mean 220 individuals, but 220 sessions were offered with some people coming for multiple visits. and same with psychiatry visits. ninety-four. again, those can be the same individuals coming for multiple visits. and 42 mental health evaluations were given during that month. those are highlights. there's a lot more information in the report, and we are here to respond to any questions now are as the hearing continues. thank you.

>> colleagues, any questions? you will stick around? >> yes. >> and this is also where people can access the report? >> yes the b.l.a. website. and then there is a page to click through for reports. it is posted there. >> great. thank you. i am going to switch the order a little bit as a result of a request to do so. is a representative from the district attorney's office here? is it all right if i have you go now? okay. thank you.

>> hello, i'm tara anderson. director of policy for the district attorney's office and author of the foundation to million-dollar investment in safely reducing the jail population in san francisco. today i am joined by the newest tire under the initiative, the project director project director. the grant requires a f.t.e. because of high-value investment from the macarthur foundation requires a significant amount of high expectations being met and a lot of coordination. we are grateful to have her on board and join the team. for those who are not familiar with the safety and justice challenge, it is a national initiative to reduce over incarceration by changing the way america thinks about the use of jail. today i am providing an overview of the initiative, planned

activities, and our accomplishments to date. on the next slide you see the pillars of the initiative. the cello aims to reduce local jail populations and reduce racial and ethnic disparities in the justice system. these goals are supported by data collection and strategies that utilize strong community engagement for shared problem-solving, information sharing, and stakeholder buy-in. the key emphasis is we must monitor the impact of our reduction strategies broken down by race and ethnicity. as you have heard, individuals to occupy the right is number of jail bed days are often 18-25 -year-old african-american males in custody facing a violent felony charges. we cannot address racial disparities we do not take a good look at how those are processed through the justice system. here you see in our next slide the challenge now work is across the country. it now represents 52 sites across 32 states with countless leaders working tirelessly to implement tracking and adjust

strategies to reduce the local jail population. not only do they vary in geography, but in size and jail capacity and they're looking at interventions across the justice system from arrest all the way through sentencing and what happens thereafter as individuals return to community. the counties identified by name here are part of the cohort three that we are a part of. san francisco was originally awarded $50,000 of an innovation granting 2017 to complete what was referred to as a recidivism dashboard. we recently just published this as a justice dashboard that is available on the district attorney's website and it is the first time that san francisco has a resource where we can look at recidivism over time. and the sheriff's department and the sheriff are a key leader in making sure that that happens. this tool provides decision makers with accurate recidivism statistics and can drive

policies to meaningfully reduce our jail population. due to our success completing the innovation fund project, we were invited to apply for and receive this implementation grant. next you see that while the resources that come with this investment from the macarthur foundation, they have put a lot behind not just these individual grants that are made in the counties that are funded, but you will see the who's who of criminal justice, research, and information sharing on this list these are resources that san francisco can leverage as we look at safely closing the jail. the part of the application process where we are required to work with them, which is one of the entities that is listed there and they completed analysis of the key drivers of the jail population. they looked at the twelve-month priors. in this instance, we're looking at april to april 2017 to 2018. the information showed that we

have a very low jail incarceration rate when compared to many u.s. jurisdictions. and when you look relative to crime as reported in our jurisdiction. this low incarceration rate means the county has already implemented many reforms that have lowered the use of jail and that further reductions will require a more assertive action and reforms from us. the analysis found, three key drivers of the population. those booked within a few hours, and stay for very short terms, three days, this just reiterates what you heard earlier. those booked and released more than once, and have a short length of stay. those are repeat folks that we have that come through our jail system in a single year. and then the third area is those who spend many weeks or years in custody as they wait for cases to be resolved. this information combined indicates we need serious, targeted invert -- intervention that are working at all these different places, and that there

is no single solution to safely reducing the jail population. the safety and justice challenge partners are listed here. some of these agencies have received direct funding as part of the grand. some just receive support and technical assistance. we have a big training fund that my colleague at the adult probation department and i are working on to understand what training takes place and institutional racism, and puts a bias in each of our agencies, and we are leveraging the grant to enhance learning to make sure we are always looking at this work of safely reducing the jail to a racial inequity lens. the sentencing commission is the policy body under which the work of the safety and justice challenge operates. that group has largely met, in the district attorney law library, which we have vacated, and it can be real or perceived as a strong barrier to getting

community to engage with understanding the safety in and justice challenge. we have made a commitment to have our december meeting take place in community. the work group that meets as part of the safety and justice challenge meets on a monthly basis and we're talking about these strategies to target the key jail drivers. in addition, we meet regularly as part of the criminal justice racial equity work group and those meetings take place every other month. so what are we doing? here we have a list of the key strategies that we are focused on as part of the initiative. our strategies are targeted to reduce the average daily jail population to 1,044 individuals. this is what would be required to successfully and safely close the jail. we are funded to do decision-making. there's a lot here. i could do a whole other presentation about the different initiatives that are listed here , but i think what is important to understand is how do you reduce the jail population by this 15 to 19% we

would need in order to sex with -- successfully close the jail and meet objectives to the grant are that looking at, how do you reduce -- reduce repeat bookings in a single year. if we looked at the 12 months prior to the grant award process , we saw that there were 1300 individuals with frequent stays between five contacts and 15 contacts in a single year. we purports that if we just stopped that person coming back just one more time, we would make a dent in the jail beds days and ultimately our reduction in our daily jail population. another strategy in looking at case processing. a lot of discussion has taken place around the volume of the people who are in custody who are awaiting resolution of the case. so key strategy here has been partnering with the san francisco superior court to look at how do we shift some of our court case processing standards

around continuances? kind of notorious here in san francisco compared to other jurisdictions were taking quite a long time to resolve a case, so making sure that within making sure people's rights are honoured, but also we are working to expedite a case to resolution and shorten the length of stay, thereby reducing the jail population. the last key strategy is looking at healthy connections. one thing we saw in the b.l.a. report was that there are some individuals where that legal back-and-forth has been resolved and there is a patient centred disposition that has indicated someone should go out to treatment. how do we get them out to treatment as soon as possible? that is a key thing we are looking at. how to overcome barriers that sometimes exist within medi-cal for example. when an individual has a substance use need, we know that recovery is a process. they can burn their two uses of drug treatment as covered by medi-cal and then be w