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 Brooke Jenkins’s stated intentions to push for harsher prosecution of drug cases as reminiscent of the disastrous Nixon-era War-on-Drugs, which was designed in part to criminalize the Black community and contributed to mass incarceration.
“public health issues require public health solutions.”
Furthermore, San Francisco is experiencing a Constitutional and humanitarian crisis with hundreds of people being jailed under 23-hour lockdown conditions or chained to an ankle monitor while the San Francisco Superior Court continues to deny legally-innocent people their right to a speedy trial.
https://www.kron4.com/news/bay-area/sf-public-defender-talks-crisis-in-the-city/
