San Francisco County Grand Jury • 2026-2027

When Making Do Doesn't Work - Full ReportThis report details the Jury's research, investigation, findings, and recommendations.PublishedJune 9, 2026

Published: June 09, 2026 49 pages Consolidated Report

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⚠️ Este contenido ha sido traducido automáticamente. El texto original en inglés es la versión oficial. La traducción puede contener errores.

Findings 13 findings

City and County leadership would benefit from first-hand knowledge obtained through inspection of the jail facilities and operations to enable them to better understand how policy changes affecting budget and operations for the Jails impact the operation of the Jails.

Important jail reports report data in inconsistent manners, including a lack of clarity regarding how people in the booking process are categorized in ADP counts; a lack of available data on those booked and released directly from the Intake and Release Center without being assigned a bed in the general population; a lack of available data on recidivists with multiple prior jail bookings; and average stay data that is so broad as to preclude an accurate picture of the short term population.

The Jails are dangerously close to capacity, and SFSO has not convened the Crowding Committee despite meeting the capacity triggers outlined in the SFSO Custody and Court Operations Manual, Policy 511.2.

Beyond relying on facilities at other Bay Area jails far from San Francisco’s courts, the SFSO has no plan for continued long term growth or a surge in the incarcerated population.

The Jails population has increasingly complex health needs, particularly mental health and substance use problems, which require more clinical and custodial resources than the system is designed to support.

Current resources and procedures do not allow for sufficient discharge planning and resource provision or connection for people repeatedly booked on, and rapidly released from, charges for low-level offenses, creating further destabilization in this population.

For at least a decade, the City has declined to make major capital investments in jail facilities, with the result that the Jails are operating in aging buildings that do not meet current operational, clinical, or safety needs.

The residential dormitories in the Annex at CJ#3 were designed for minimum security and selected low-risk inmates, but the current population consists primarily of medium- and maximum-security inmates and creates heightened risk of violent incidents.

The SFSO is underinvested in technology and overly reliant on outmoded, inefficient paper processes for records management, overtime assignments and tracking, and various other procedures. The SFSO central technology platform for all custody operations (JMS) is outdated, presenting risks to operations and creating inefficiencies for staff.

F10

Implementation of essential technology has been delayed and undercut by reappropriation of the technology budget to cover overtime costs.

F11

The SFSO operates below required minimum staffing levels on a chronic and recurring basis; and the many problems associated with operating below required minimums have been 40 magnified by the Sheriff’s decision to curtail the use of overtime and operate below minimums from approximately March 15, 2026 to the end of FY 2025-2026.

F12

Chronic overtime spending in excess of budget, including the cost of staffing the Annex entirely on overtime after the City denied funding for staffing when the Annex reopened in 2023 and added additional dorms in 2024 and 2025, has directly impeded essential investment in the jail system. Overtime levels in recent years are detrimental to the safety, security, and health of the entire Jail community and the reliance on overtime at the Annex is particularly concerning.

F13

Incidents of below minimum staffing result in facility lockdowns or lesser mobility restrictions, cause suspended programming, reduce out-of-cell time, interrupt access to health services, impede visitation, and have other negative impacts on inmates, yet data on lockdowns is unavailable.

Recommendations 5

R4

By October 1, 2027, the SFSO should initiate a Facilities Need Assessment pursuant to the SFSO Custody and Operations Manual Policy 511.3, and by February 1, 2027 should submit a report on the Assessment to the Mayor’s Office, the BOS, the DPW, and the Office of Capital Planning and Resilience.
R8

The SFSO should consult with a classification expert to assess whether the Classification system used by the SFSO Classification Unit is accurately addressing the risk of housing medium-security prisoners accused of violent crimes and maximum-security prisoners in the Annex dormitories. The analysis should also consider whether classification procedures need to be modified for the current levels of medical, mental health and substance use disorder in the custodial population. The SFSO should proceed in good faith to expedite the contracting process, and should start the process no later than October 1, 2026.
R10

Starting October 1, 2026, if the Sheriff seeks to de-appropriate funds from the IT capital budget to pay for overtime or other compensation expenses, the Sheriff should prepare a cost-benefit analysis of the operational and fiscal impact of losing these IT funds on jail operations, including a five year history of the de-appropriation of capital budget line items. This information should be presented to the BOS when the SFSO submits its request for a supplemental appropriation pursuant to Administrative Code section 3.17 and should be posted on the Sheriff's website with any budget presentations. Category 3: Staffing
R11

The Controller and SFSO should assess the need to staff the 372 inmate Annex separately from County Jail #3, including assessing the need for a Captain position and non-overtime funded staffing for the Annex, and for an accounting separation to reflect the separate populations and operating costs of the two facilities. The analysis should be started by November 1, 2026 and completed and presented to the Mayor and the BOS by no later than March 1, 2027.
R12

By November 1, 2026, the Controller should initiate a performance audit to assess SFSO staffing and use of overtime for Fiscal Years 2023-2024 through 2025-2026, including, but not limited to: i) procedures for approving, assigning, and reporting overtime; ii) deputy sheriff use of compensatory time off in lieu of paid overtime; iii) over-reliance on paper records; iv) areas of actual or potential abuse, v) cost-benefit analysis of return on investment from funding and implementing modern computerized systems to reduce use of overtime and enable increased use of civilians in clerical functions, and vi) other recommendations to improve the efficiency of staffing and overtime.