|
|
|
|
Sheriff
Michael Hennessey
A native of Iowa,
Michael Hennessey graduated from St. John's University in Collegeville,
Minnesota in 1970 with a BA degree in History. That same year, he
continued his education by entering the University of San Francisco
School of Law. After graduating and becoming a member of the state
bar, he accepted an assignment as Legal Counsel to then-Sheriff
Richard Hongisto.
In 1975, he founded
the San Francisco Jail Project, a legal assistance program for indigent
prisoners with civil legal problems and provided training for law
students and new lawyers while offering technical assistance to
the Sheriff's Department. He managed the Jail Project until May
1979, when friends in the Department and civic-minded San Franciscans
encouraged him to seek election as Sheriff. He is the only Sheriff
in California who is a lawyer.
|
| EDUCATION |
|
USF School of Law,
1973
Admitted to state and
federal courts, 1973. |
| PROFESSIONAL |
|
VISTA lawyer 1974-75
Director of inmate legal
services program 1974-79
Elected Sheriff 1979;
reelected 1983, 1987, 1991, 1995, 1999, 2003 and 2007. Law
Enforcement News "Man of the Year," for leadership in fact-based
policy & training regarding AIDS in jails & prisons. |
ACHIEVEMENTS
AS SHERIFF |
|
Mike Hennessey has
served as Sheriff for 30 years. As Sheriff, he has won nationwide
recognition for the outstanding success of his recruitment program
for women and minorities, including gay men and lesbians. His staff
reflects the diversity of San Francisco's population.
He has increased
employee training more than 500% and has received 15 consecutive
annual awards from the state for "Excellence in Training." He is
one of the nation's pioneers in establishing "new generation/direct
supervision" jails that have proven to be safer and more cost effective
than traditional facilities, typically designed around linear cell
blocks.
Sheriff Hennessey's
pioneering efforts to rehabilitate prisoners include a wide range
of prisoner education and substance abuse recovery programs such
as SISTER, Acupuncture, and G.E.D. classes that emphasize the continuation
of school and living chemical free.
Other programs include
horticulture, an organic gardening therapy project, and Tree Corps,
which offers ex-offenders employment by planting and caring for
trees in major thoroughfares in San Francisco.
Most recently, Sheriff
Hennessey has worked with victim rights advocates to create Resolve
to Stop the Violence (RSVP), an anti-violence curriculum for prisoners
who have been convicted of violent crimes. |
Back
Top
|
