On April 27, 2023, the California State Assembly Public Safety Committee is holding a Special Session to discuss this year’s state bills related to fentanyl. The San Francisco Public Defender’s Office joins a coalition of 35+ statewide organizations and agencies that have signed onto a letter to the Committee Members urging them to reject these...Read More

Please read, share, subscribe to our newsletters with updates about the work of the San Francisco Public Defender’s Office as we fight for the rights and safety of our clients and our communities with courage, humanity and integrity. You can sign up here to receive these in your inbox. January 2024 January 2023 Spring 2022...Read More

In December 2022, CBS News Innovation Lab interviewed San Francisco Public Defender Mano Raju, Deputy Public Defender Alexandra Pray, and Ms. Pray’s client Sarina Borg for an in-depth report looking at the national problem of court backlogs: Growing backlog of court cases delays justice for crime victims and the accused Ms. Borg waited 2.5 years...Read More

Over 550 people’s trial deadlines have passed; Over 150 of them are still in jail. Hundreds more are in line behind them. On September 16th, our mock trial and press rally captured the attention of local news outlets who turned up to hear ‘testimony’ from public defenders, community members, and those directly impacted by the...Read More

Having any type of contact with the criminal legal system can have far-reaching consequences on one’s ability to move forward, even decades later. Arrests and convictions can show up on background checks, often creating barriers to housing, education, and jobs. It’s part of the vicious cycle that keeps people from reaching personal and professional goals,...Read More

In August 2022, Deputy Public Defender Crystal Carpino learned that the nascent Restorative Justice court program was being halted under the administration of appointed interim District Attorney Brooke Jenkins, meaning that no one else is being allowed into the small program which has been steadily growing with much early success. The reasons given for this...Read More

Journalist Albert Samaha, the Inequality Editor at BuzzFeed News, interviewed our client Jordan Smith, who has long worked in the restaurant industry around the Bay Area and found himself living on the economic margins. In the article – The Only Way For Some People To Stay In San Francisco Is To Steal: As San Francisco’s...Read More

San Francisco Public Defender Mano Raju gave this exclusive interview to Haaziq Madyun of KRON4 News to discuss how a carceral response to drugs has not and will not solve the tragic opioid and overdose epidemic that has impacted every community in the country. In terms of San Francisco, he cautioned against interim District Attorney...Read More

Sam Levin of The Guardian interviewed Salesh “Sal” Prasad, a client of our Immigration Defense Unit, who is an LGBTQ artist and activist who was granted parole after transforming his life in prison, but never got a taste of his hard-earned freedom because prison officials transferred him directly into ICE custody. He’s spent the last...Read More

On June 27, 2022, the SF Examiner published this Op Ed – What happens when San Francisco and other cities drastically underfund public defender offices – by San Francisco Public Defender Mano Raju. Click through to read the full Opinion. Excerpt: As trusted advocates for our clients, public defenders are the best positioned out of...Read More