SAN FRANCISCO - San Francisco County is opening a rarely-used wing of its San Bruno complex to accommodate a 32% spike in inmates, San Francisco Sheriff's officials announced Friday.
The "Annex at County Jail #3" in San Bruno is opening after the inmate population grew to 1,105 people incarcerated during the month of October. Historically the daily average sits around 835 people incarcerated in SF County jails.
"Part of the uptick in the current jail population can be attributed to people with multiple court cases being held to answer on arrests and charges on the same behavior," Sheriff Paul Miyamoto said in a press release. "While we prioritize getting people to help and services, those who continue to repeat criminal behavior will end up in custody."
The jail's opening is to better accommodate the incarcerated population and comes after the Bryant Street jail was closed on Sept. 5, 2020.
Chief Deputy Lisette Adams mentioned that critics of the Bryant Street jail closure warned that overcrowding could be a problem in the near future and that "We are now there," Adams said in a press release.
"As our City continues to rebound from the pandemic, we face a new back-to-normal reality: we have more people being held accountable for their crimes and we need space to house them accordingly," Adams said.