San Francisco, CA

Jail Services for the Homeless
Jail Services for the Mentally Ill
Jail Population Studies

Over the past fifteen years, the Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice has partnered with the San Francisco Sheriff's Department to alleviate chronic overcrowding in the County's jails. Several of the resulting programs have made significant impacts on the detained populations, particularly among mentally ill and homeless detainees. These programs are held up as models for other counties around the country.

Supervised Misdemeanor Release Program
The Supervised Misdemeanor Release Program (SMRP) was initiated in 1987 with the San Francisco Sheriff's Department to address jail overcrowding. SMRP's mission is to demonstrate that a jail population group, previously considered unlikely to return to court, can be released pretrial on a promise to appear and successfully return to court.

SMRP focuses on people held in custody on misdemeanor bench warrants. (People arrested for new misdemeanor offenses not involving weapons or violence, are regularly released with a citation, or written promise to appear in court. After a failure to appear, a bench warrant is issued and court approval must be sought for non-financial releases). Program staff identify, screen, interview and check references for all eligible misdemeanants and submit recommendations for release to the court. If the court accepts the release recommendation, SMRP staff monitors the offender's court compliance until the case is disposed.

In 2001, SMRP oversaw 828 releases with an 84% successful court return rate.

Jail Services for the Homeless

CJCJ has a long history of alleviating the impacts of homelessness in San Francisco's jails.

The "No Local" Project
In the early stages of the Supervised Misdemeanor Release Program, staff recognized a growing number of homeless defendants who were not eligible for citation release because they lacked an address.

In response, CJCJ worked with the Sheriff's Department to establish the "No Local" Citation Project in 1991. This project targeted homeless offenders charged with misdemeanor offenses or infraction warrants. Because the "No Local" project did not release people charged with bench warrants, court approval for the release was not required.

Between 1991 and 1997, the "No Local" Project facilitated the release of more than 1700 people on their "promise to appear" in court with a compliance rate of 76%. Due to the project's success, the San Francisco Sheriff's Department changed its citation policies in 1997 to no longer exclude homeless people.

Homeless Release Project
Homeless offenders present a number of unique challenges that go beyond the lack of a stable address. In 1996, the Homeless Release Project (HRP) was created using a community-based treatment model to provide supervision and individualized case management services to homeless people with pending criminal charges.

HRP staff members identify homeless offenders arrested on misdemeanors in the jail. They conduct preliminary needs assessments and identify existing relationships with community providers. This preliminary data is then submitted to the court for a recommendation for release from jail along with HRP participation.

Once released by the court, HRP Case Managers and Peer Advocates (who are themselves former offenders in recovery) work aggressively with clients, accompanying them to all court dates and helping them to develop a care plan incorporating long and short-term goals. A care plan typically involves obtaining temporary or permanent housing, entering a substance abuse program, or accessing mental health or medical treatment.

This type of rigorous, highly individualized model is critical, because in addition to facing homelessness and pending criminal charges, 85% of HRP clients deal with substance abuse and 50% have been diagnosed with a co-occurring mental illness.

HRP is networked with other community-based organizations that work flexibly and effectively with this hard-to serve population. For example, recognizing that many clients with mental illness have a history of noncompliance with mental health treatment, HRP partners with Caduceus Outreach Services, which provides specialized case management and access to psychiatrists who meet with clients and prescribe medication, as needed, in a non-clinical setting.

In 2001-2002, HRP helped secure the release of 100 people, with 88% appearing in court and engaging in services. Out of the overall participants in the project that year:

• 82% did not re-offend while in the project
• 63% accessed substance abuse services
• 54% accessed mental health services
• 47% accessed physical health services

Out of the successful graduates of the program, 75% had transitioned into more stable housing.

[Full report on the impact of the Homeless Pretrial Release Project]

Jail Services for the Mentally Ill

Connections
In 2001, the city of San Francisco initiated the Connections program with funding from the Mentally Ill Offender Crime Reduction Grant (MIOCRG), a joint project of the California State Sheriffs' Association and the Mental Health Association. This grant is intended to address gaps in services for mentally ill offenders and to, thus, reduce crime, jail time and criminal justice costs.

San Francisco determined that many low level, mentally ill offenders were being denied pretrial release because their myriad needs made them too difficult to supervise in the community. Connections is a collaboration, including CJCJ and other public and private agencies, that manages clients through court dates, provides psychiatric case management, arranges for temporary housing, and assists with benefits, money management, treatment and vocational training.

Jail Population Studies

Second Look
The Second Look component refers to a daily examination of the pretrial custody population to identify individuals who could be eligible for release or transfer. This work includes expediting releases by relaying information from the Court Clerk's Office, double-checking inter-agency transport requests and providing clarification on the bail process to custodies. Second Look also provides needed back up to custodial staff to ensure that no one is unintentionally over-detained due to paperwork errors.

Population Analysis
Institutional information systems often provide incomplete data about detained populations. CJCJ has worked with the San Francisco Sheriff's Department to conduct snapshot analyses to answer specific questions like length of stay for certain types of offenders. CJCJ reviews data and records, providing more accurate, in-depth analyses that prove useful for implementing changes in state law or determining eligibility for new funding sources.

For more information about Jail Services, please contact:

[Gerald Miller, Program Director]
Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice
54 Dore Street
San Francisco, CA 94103
Tel: 415-621-5661 x306