Remove S.F. deputies who allegedly mass strip-searched women in jail, social justice orgs demand

"Last month, 19 women filed a claim with the city alleging that, on May 22, sheriff's deputies ordered them to undress in front of each other, laughed at them, and filmed the proceedings with their body-worn cameras. Immediately after Mission Local first reported the allegations on Nov. 20, several members of the Board of Supervisors called for action. Criminal justice, human rights, and women's advocates rallied in front of the jail at 425 Seventh St. the following week."

"have co-signed a list of demands to Mayor Daniel Lurie, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, Sheriff Paul Miyamoto and District Attorney Brooke Jenkins. The groups asked for the deputies allegedly involved to be suspended, for the woman to be released from jail and given counseling while they wait for their cases to go to trial, and for strip searches to be conducted only when there is reasonable suspicion of contraband."

""We are specifically troubled by the horrific May 22nd mass strip search of women in the jail and the deeply troubling harassment of women that has followed," the letter reads. "We are also deeply concerned that the Sheriff's Office is effectively condoning gendered violence in the jail by failing to take the reports of the mass strip searches seriously and by allowing the supervisors and deputies involved to remain in positions of authority over the impacted women.""

Social justice organizations hand-delivered letters to elected officials at San Francisco City Hall demanding stronger protections for women in city jails. Nineteen women filed a claim alleging that on May 22 sheriff's deputies ordered them to undress in front of each other, laughed at them, and filmed the proceedings with body-worn cameras. More than 20 organizations, including the San Francisco Public Defender's Office and Young Women's Freedom Coalition, co-signed a list of demands to the mayor, board, sheriff, and district attorney. The demands call for suspending the deputies involved, releasing affected women with counseling while they await trial, limiting strip searches to reasonable-suspicion cases, asking the district attorney to consider trauma as a mitigating factor, and fully funding the Sheriff's Oversight Board.

Read at Mission Local