Nine women held at San Francisco County Jail #2 are suing the city, county, Sheriff’s Office and jail leaders over conditions they say are unsanitary and inhumane.
No sunlight. Lack of hot water. Insect infestations. Fewer job opportunities than men detained in the same building.
These are some of the conditions a group of incarcerated women in San Francisco describe in a lawsuit they filed Tuesday.
Civil rights attorney Yolanda Huang, who is representing the women, held a press conference outside San Francisco County Jail #2 in SoMa to bring attention to the case. She said most of the people held at the jail are pre-trial detainees.
"As people who are presumed innocent, they're not subject to punishment, and yet they're housed in a building that violates health and safety code," Huang said.
When the facility was built in 1994, Huang said the state building code already required jails to provide outdoor space. But San Francisco’s building has none. She said this is leading to sleep disruptions, skin irritations, and more permanent conditions like Crohn’s Disease, dementia and diabetes.
Huang said, "If you come here as a detainee, you should have the right to leave as intact and as healthy as when you came in. You should not be forced to leave here as a chronically ill person with irreversible diseases."
The women say the jail’s conditions violate their civil rights under the U.S.- and California Constitutions. They are seeking damages and demanding that people held at the jail be provided with daily access to sunlight, exercise, healthier foods, sufficient hot water for showers, and an environment free of insects, mold and other pathogens.
KALW reached out to the San Francisco Sheriff’s Office and the City Attorney. Jen Kwart, communications director for the City Attorney’s Office said in an email, “Once we are served with the lawsuit, we will review the complaint and respond in court.”
In federal cases, plaintiffs have 90 days to serve defendants with a lawsuit after filing.
