News and Press Releases

July 6, 2020 Dear Governor Newsom, This is an immeasurably difficult time. With 2,419 incarcerated persons with active cases ofCOVID-19 in California prisons statewide and over 1,500 people who are incarcerated or work inSan Quentin testing positive, I am strongly urging you to exercise your authority to release peoplefrom California’s overcrowded prisons and to take additional steps to improve the...

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 two California immigration detention centers...

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 121 men from the CA...

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 Louisville police killing of Breonna...

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-ReformDownload