More than two years since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, nearly a quarter of those incarcerated in San Francisco county jail are being held past their original trial deadlines, with some individuals waiting for years for their cases to be heard.
In June 2020, in the early months of the pandemic, 68 people were incarcerated in the county past their original trial deadlines, according to data from the public defender. By January 2022, the latest data available, that number had grown to nearly 250. Hundreds more are awaiting trial out of custody.
California state law stipulates that those accused of crimes are entitled to a speedy trial – 30 to 60 days after their arraignment, depending on the nature of the crime. But backlogs in the court system, made worse by the pandemic, have obliterated those deadlines, often at significant cost to the mental health and wellbeing of those imprisoned, and their loved ones.
The problem in the county became so severe that Mano Raju, the San Francisco public defender, filed a lawsuit in September 2021 alleging the city’s superior court is violating people’s constitutional right to a speedy trial.
“These aren’t even people who have been convicted of a crime,” Raju said. “They’re just awaiting their day in court.”
This disproportionately affects communities of color. Though Black residents comprise 6% of San Francisco’s total population, they make up about 45% of the county jail population.
“Our clients are largely poor and from communities of color, so when their rights are trampled there isn’t always the outcry there would be if this was happening to people from another community,” said Raju.
Robert Brewer, who was held for more than five months past his original trial date, said the long wait showed the criminal justice system’s unfairness. It has taken a toll on his health and put his life on hold.
“You’re supposed to be innocent until proven guilty, but you’re treated as if you’ve already been sentenced,” he said.
Brewer was found not guilty of a homicide charge in May 2021 following a trial, but since his release, the experience of incarceration has continued to affect his mental health.
“Being released is not as joyful as you might expect,” Brewer said. “You come out of this hole with very little human contact. You make it out, but you leave a big piece of yourself in jail.”
In his lawsuit, Raju points to the lingering effects of case backlogs on individuals’ mental health and the county jail’s treatment of incarcerated people during Covid-19 lockdowns to argue the court should do more to address the backlogs. Some people who have been incarcerated told the Guardian they were allowed out of their cells for less than an hour a day during outbreaks of the virus. The public defender’s office has worked closely with other organizations to improve conditions at the jail for residents.
Brewer said he was only allowed to shower every two to three days before returning to his cell, after a cellmate contracted Covid. Solitary confinement and social isolation have been strongly linked to negative impacts on mental health, including a heightened risk of suicide.
The San Francisco sheriff’s department, which manages the jail, said it followed practices recommended by health officials in keeping custody officers and jail residents safe. The department acknowledged incarcerated people were sometimes held in their cells for upwards of 23 hours a day, citing a variety of reasons such as “social distancing protocols, quarantine protocols, isolation protocols, disciplinary action, administrative segregation, and staffing shortages”.
Raju said: “Solitary-like conditions mean you can’t leave a cell, often one where you can reach out your arms and touch the walls, for more than one hour per day. This can have a strong psychological impact.”
Kwixuan Maloof, a San Francisco deputy public defender, says that a trial deadline can serve as a source of stability and encourages people to resist the temptation to accept a plea bargain, which often involves pleading guilty and avoiding a trial in exchange for the possibility of more lenient sentencing or a charge being downgraded.
But without that guarantee, the pressure to accept a bargain goes up, even for those who believe they have a strong chance of being exonerated in court. “It’s very frustrating for me, and 10 times more so for my clients, when they ask me when their trial is going to start and all I can say is ‘I don’t know,’” said Maloof. “In those circumstances, it becomes very easy to say: ‘You know what, I’m done. I’m going to take whatever deal they offer me.’”
‘I can hear the light leaving my son’
Before the pandemic, court backlogs were far from unheard of in the US. But an August 2021 study by the Thomson Reuters Institute found that the pandemic had substantially increased such backlogs nationwide, as trials were indefinitely delayed during surges of the virus and courts struggled to adapt to virtual operations.
According to the judicial council of California, the clearance rate for criminal trials statewide has dropped by around 20% during the pandemic. As restrictions start to ease, success at alleviating the backlogs has been mixed as different municipalities experiment with varying approaches.
Matt Malone, a public information officer with the Contra Costa county superior court, said that through a number of initiatives, the court had brought its case backlog from 104 in March 2021 to 51 in March 2022. If not for the suspension of jury trials during the Omicron surge, Malone notes, the backlog would probably have been even lower.
Malone added the county had taken steps to adapt to social distancing requirements, such as making sure remote capabilities were “tremendously expanded”, staggering jury calls, and installing air filtration systems in courtrooms.
Rose Marie Sims, a plaintiff in the legal action filed by Raju against the San Francisco superior court, said her son Christopher had been incarcerated for more than two years and still had not received a trial.
“I can’t believe this is America. I love this country, but the judicial system seems to have lost its mind,” said Sims. “How do you keep someone locked up like that without giving them their trial? Every time I talk with my son on the phone, I can hear the light leaving him.”
Sims said her son had lost his fiancee and job and would need to start over.
“He’s lost everything,” she said. “It’s traumatizing as a parent.”
The public defender’s office, as well as the San Francisco district attorney, have called on the San Francisco superior court to make more rooms available for criminal trials in the civic center courthouse.
In February of this year, Raju filed a petition in the California courts of appeal asking that the San Francisco court be forced to take steps to prioritize criminal trials. The Contra Costa county superior court, where Raju filed his original lawsuit in September, had concluded it did not have authority over the San Francisco superior court.
A spokesperson for San Francisco superior court said the court was committed to justice and “processing all cases as expeditiously as possible under the difficult circumstances presented by the pandemic”.
But Raju disagrees and said more needed to be done to process cases swiftly.
“How long it will take to address the backlog depends on what the court is willing to do,” he said. “There is a lack of urgency.”
In the US, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is at 800-273-8255 and online chat is also available. You can also text HOME to 741741 to connect with a crisis text line counselor. In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on 116 123 or email jo@samaritans.org or jo@samaritans.ie. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at www.befrienders.org
This article was amended on 14 April 2022 to clarify that, while nearly a quarter of those in San Francisco county jail are being held past their planned trial deadlines, others who are not incarcerated have also experienced delayed court dates.