About a thousand people are waiting to have their trial heard at the San Francisco Superior Court. Of those thousand, more than a hundred are in custody — with no immediate end in sight.
On Friday, the San Francisco Public Defender's Office gathered in front of the Hall of Justice on Bryant Street to protest. The Office plans to hold sit-ins every Friday through July.
Angela Chan, their head of policy, says that the trial delays are having a disproportionate impact on certain groups.
“The vast majority of people who are detained in our San Francisco County Jail are people of color…and the vast majority are low-income," Chan said. "These are individuals who are losing their homes, losing their jobs, being separated from their families including their children.”
The Public Defender’s Office is demanding an end to the trial delays, and are calling on the city to use alternative sites — like the Civic Center courthouse — to loosen the backlog.
The Office is also pursuing legal action, and sued the San Francisco Superior Court over trial delays in 2021. On Thursday, a state appeals court ruled that the case is allowed to proceed.
