San Francisco jail attacks lead to charges against 8 inmates
SAN FRANCISCO - Prosecutors have charged eight people incarcerated at San Francisco County jails in alleged attacks on sheriff's deputies.
Officials said nine deputies were attacked in unrelated incidents over several weeks.
The incarcerated persons who are facing charges were identified as Cameron Davis, 30; Deandre Joubert, 26; Javares Singleton, 19; Jeffrey Walker, 60; Keshon Wilson, 23; Maia Tillman, 23; Paris Powell, 23; and William Powell, 52, as first reported by the San Francisco Chronicle.
Their charges range from battery on a peace officer to assault on a peace officer with force likely to cause great bodily injury.
Most of the charged inmates were in jail awaiting trials for violent crimes like murder, assault, burglary, and possession of a gun.
A spokesperson for the sheriff's office and the District Attorney's Office confirmed that those defendants were charged in relation to the attacks that started on March 29 at San Francisco County jails 2 and 3.
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Sheriff Paul Miyamoto praised the District Attorney, saying, "I think it's really important to see that as a step towards accountability."
He said in some of the attacks, deputies were punched and kicked in the head and spit at. Deputies also suffered dislocated shoulders and bloody eye sockets, officials said.
Miyamoto attributed the attacks to overcrowding and a shortage of deputies.
The president of the labor union San Francisco Sheriff's Deputies Association Ken Lomba said the attacks are a direct result of mandatory overtime and low staffing. "Anytime someone's exhausted and fatigued, it affects performance. It affects reactionary time, so all of this has an impact," he said.
Lomba said 10 deputies have been injured in three weeks, adding one to the number in the sheriff's count. He said in all 10 cases, the jail was short-staffed and at least once, the deputy was working overtime.
"The deputy that was attacked on April 12th, if there had been another deputy there with him, the attack could've stopped a lot sooner. He might not have been injured," Lomba said.
Lomba called the issue "overtime slavery," saying the deputies are working an average of 28 hours of overtime each week, affecting their health and performance.
However, Miyamoto said they have 16 hours of mandatory overtime each week, and any additional overtime is voluntary.
"It's like you have to work overtime to accomplish what the sheriff's department wants to accomplish," Lomba said.
Sheriff Miyamoto said the current staffing levels, at about 73%, are enough to get the job done. "Right now, our response times are the same. There's less staff responding, but people will always come to help people in need in the jail," he added. "I'm doing my best to continue to bring more people in so that we can bring our staffing levels up."
Lomba is demanding the sheriff and Mayor London Breed prioritize hiring and recruiting by adding incentives and accelerating the hiring process.
Meanwhile, Miyamoto said he has hired a full-time recruiter and is focusing on recruiting military members who might be interested in law enforcement.
Jeffery Walker, one of the incarcerated men charged in a deputy attack on March 29, previously told KTVU that conditions aren't safe for people like him or the staff.
"Things are so out of control at the jail that inmates are starting to get unruly because of the conditions going on at the jail," he said. "Deputies are working overtime, shorthanded, 16-hour shifts and I see deputies sleeping at their job post positions. Inmates are fighting against one another, the deputy having to go in and break up something."
He said the violence goes both ways.
He said, "Incidences where the deputies are assaulting inmates… and there are incidences where deputies have gotten attacked by a prisoner as well, so it goes both ways."
Walker said he is suing the department for excessive force.