Nuala Bishari reported for the SF Public Press on how S.F. Immigration Lawyers Cut ICE Detention Centers Population by Two-Thirds. This article features the work of the San Francisco Public Defender’s Office Immigration Unit to protect people being held in immigration detention, specifically during the COVID-19 pandemic. Through several joint legal actions, the population of...Read More

SAN FRANCISCO – With 2,582 incarcerated persons with active cases of COVID-19 in California prisons statewide, and over 1,100 people incarcerated in San Quentin testing positive, the San Francisco Public Defender’s Office is mobilizing to free people as quickly as possible to prevent the continuing spread. The outbreak at San Quentin came after CDCR transferred...Read More

SF Public Defender Mano Raju spoke on the Sana G Morning Show on KMEL in the wake of nationwide calls to defund the police as the Black Lives Matter movement and millions of Americans took to the streets in the wake of recent police killings, including the Minneapolis police killing of George Floyd, and the...Read More

Public Defenders Call for Major Statewide Police Reform June 25, 2020 – Public Defenders sent this letter to Governor Newsom and California Lawmakers today calling for major statewide police reforms, seeking “meaningful, radical change” in line with the movement of the moment.  Download the full letter here: Public-Defenders-Recommendations-for-CA-Policing-ReformDownloadRead More

ICE CONFIRMS MEDICAL PROVIDER AT MESA VERDE DETENTION CENTER TESTS POSITIVE FOR COVID-19, EXPOSING ITS CONTINUED FAILURE TO PROTECT HEALTH DURING PANDEMIC SAN FRANCISCO – On June 19, 2020, government lawyers disclosed that a medical provider at the Mesa Verde Detention Center in Bakersfield, CA, tested positive for COVID-19. The disclosure came at a hearing...Read More

SF Public Defender Mano Raju Applauds SF Police Commission Budget Vote – Echoes Public Call for Fundamental Change  “I was very glad to see our San Francisco Police Commissioners unanimously voting to reject the police budget at 2:30am this morning after 9 hours of public comment, over 99 percent of which featured San Franciscans of...Read More

Photo: Donis with his youngest of three children and his wife, following his release by court order. Judge Orders ICE to Maintain Pandemic Protections at Detention Centers SAN FRANCISCO — This afternoon a federal judge granted a preliminary injunction in response to a class action legal challenge by immigrants detained at two California immigration detention...Read More

SF PUBLIC DEFENDER MANO RAJU CALLS FOR MAJOR REFORMS AFTER VIDEO SURFACES SHOWING SFPD OFFICER WITH KNEE ON TEENAGER’S NECK  The country is mourning after a Minneapolis police officer murdered George Floyd, an unarmed Black man accused of a nonviolent offense.  What happened to George Floyd is happening all over the United States with miserable...Read More

On May 29, 2020, the San Francisco Chronicle published this article by Megan Cassidy about the San Francisco Public Defender’s Office client, Paul Redd, who was resentenced in San Francisco Superior Court and earned release after more than 44 years in prison. Mr. Redd was convicted at age 19 based on the testimony of a...Read More

Court Finds Likely Constitutional Violation in ICE’S Detention of Immigrants in Two Cramped Detention Centers during Pandemic; Order Establishes Process for Court to Consider Releases of Detained Immigrants SAN FRANCISCO — In an emergency order, a federal judge granted a temporary restraining order in response to a challenge by immigrants detained at two California immigration...Read More