San Francisco—An innovative pilot program through the San Francisco Public Defender’s office has saved nearly a million dollars of taxpayer money and thousands of jail beds during its first five months of operation, according to a study released today by the California Policy Lab at University of California Berkeley. The Pretrial Release Unit (PRU), staffed...Read More

By Evan Sernoffsky SF Chronicle David, a 76-year-old Vietnam veteran, found himself in San Francisco County Jail in mid-January after a fight with his abusive partner. He had no idea how to get a lawyer, how to get his HIV medication or when he’d even get out. “I had never been to jail and the...Read More

San Francisco—Police booking charges play an outsized role in creating the San Francisco justice system’s dramatic racial disparities, a new study reveals, prompting San Francisco Public Defender Jeff Adachi to announce today the formation of a team to scrutinize the early charges for bias. The Pretrial Release Unit, comprised of two deputy public defenders and...Read More