SAN FRANCISCO
Court Orders To Build New Jail In San Bruno
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U.S. District Senior Judge William Orrick Jr. this week laid down the gauntlet for San
Francisco to build a new jail in San Bruno and approved fees for attorneys who have long
railed about conditions at the city's largest lockup.
On Monday, Orrick issued a written order approving a tentative settlement reached in March
between the San Francisco city attorney's office and Golden Gate University School of Law
professor Morton Cohen. Under the agreement, the city promised to build a new jail next to
the old one by 2002. The city also agreed to a series of improvements to the existing
jail, including hiring additional sheriff's deputies to serve as guards. The deputies will
begin work in December.
But for Orrick, the new jail to replace the dilapidated 1930s facility is the bottom line.
"Although defendants have taken great strides in improving the conditions at the
jail, it is clear that conditions at the jail are not, and never will be, ideal," he
wrote in Jones v. San Francisco, 91-3453. "Nevertheless, defendants' commitment to
building a new jail by 2002, coupled with their significant attempts to improve conditions
at the jail in the meantime, appear to be a reasonable attempt to address all of the
unconstitutional conditions at the jail."
The judge also awarded Cohen and his co-counsel $585,000 in fees for work over the last
eight years. But so far the plaintiffs' attorneys have received only $180,000 of that
money, and Cohen said he's not expecting the balance anytime soon. Cohen said the
remainder will not be paid until the city has a signed and sealed deal with a contractor
to build the new jail, including approval from the Board of Supervisors and the mayor.
"The city was supposed to have a signed contract in June," Cohen said.
"Then it was July. Then it was August. Now they tell us it's September. There is no
settlement until there's a signed contract."
Cohen has had litigation pending before Orrick alleging inadequate conditions at San
Francisco jails for the last 20 years, so he has reason to be pessimistic.
The cases have resulted in improved conditions, but the city has been slow to act on
resolving the politically thorny problems. In 1996, for instance, Orrick ended a consent
decree Cohen had negotiated with the city for overcrowding at the Hall of Justice jail.
Cohen filed that suit, Stone v. San Francisco, 78-2974, in 1978.
With Jones, Cohen and other attorneys originally filed the class action in 1991, alleging
that unconstitutional living conditions existed at the San Bruno jail. In May 1993, the
parties settled the suit, only to see it re-open the following year after the plaintiffs
complained that the city was not living up to its side of the bargain.
Though agreements have been reached and breached before, Deputy City Attorney Joanne
Hoeper said city lawyers are moments away from hammering out a deal with construction
giant Morse Diesel International Inc. that they can take to the Board of Supervisors.
"This is a real proposal -- a lot of work has been done on it," said Hoeper, the
chief of complex litigation for City Attorney Louise Renne.
But she said there are no guarantees the proposed contract will survive the city's
political process. Twice before, the question of building a new jail has been rejected by
San Francisco voters. While both ballot measures garnered simple majorities, the two
failed because they were bond measures that needed two-thirds approval. Both campaigns
were opposed by an odd alliance of liberals who saw the measure as a way to lock up more
citizens and conservatives who opposed building a new jail with borrowed money.
That's precisely why Orrick's Monday order is important, said James Harrigan, a San
Francisco Sheriff's Department lawyer who has worked on the jail cases. "It's a
victory for Judge Orrick more than anybody else," Harrigan said, expressing optimism
that a new jail will finally be built. "He used his considerable power and charm to
get the plaintiffs to do their part and to get the city off its ass to build a new
jail."
(The Recorder 9-1-1999)