Sheriff's Office Replacing Superior Court's Pre-Arraignment Bail Schedule

Office of the Sheriff, City and County of San Francisco

For Immediate Release

Tuesday, February 19, 2020
Contact: Nancy Crowley, 415-554-4469

Press Release

New “OR” Process for Pretrial Jail Releases Begins at Midnight in San Francisco, Replacing Superior Court’s Pre-Arraignment Bail Schedule

San Francisco, CA – The Sheriff’s Office announced it will no longer use the San Francisco Superior Court’s felony and misdemeanor bail schedule to release people from jail prior to their arraignment, effective midnight, February 20, 2020.

The Sheriff’s Office announcement complies with a September 2019 federal court judgment, known as the “Buffin court case,” which ruled that the pre-arraignment bail system was unconstitutional.

New procedures accelerate the San Francisco Superior Court’s  “Own Recognizance” or “OR” pre-arraignment release process for eligible defendants. They apply to cases that do not involve serious or violent felonies or for persons who are otherwise ineligible for pre-arraignment release*. Procedures include:

  • San Francisco Pretrial Diversion Project (SF Pretrial) will submit the arrestee’s public safety assessment (PSA) and release recommendation to the Superior Court within eight hours of booking**
  • The judicial officer must make a release decision within 18 hours of booking
  • If there is no ruling from a judicial officer, the Sheriff’s Office will follow the PSA release recommendation

Peace officers with reasonable cause to believe a person will fail to appear in court or pose a threat to the community may file a declaration that extends the 18-hour time requirement by 12 hours.

“This solution balances our commitment to public safety with the defendant’s presumption of innocence,” said San Francisco Sheriff Paul Miyamoto. “The men and women in the Sheriff’s Office have invested their time and shared their expertise over several months to safely implement and incorporate the provisions of this judgment into our intake and release operations.”

Multiple city agencies collaborated on a solution to ensure that defendants who are eligible for pre-arraignment release may be quickly considered for release by the Superior Court. This includes the Mayor’s and Sheriff’s Offices, City Attorney, Controller, San Francisco Police Department, District Attorney as well as the Superior Court and nonprofit SF Pretrial.

In November 2019, the Board of Supervisors approved Mayor London Breed’s $2.2 million supplemental budget appropriation to ensure that the Sheriff’s Office, Police Department, District Attorney and SF Pretrial would have the necessary resources and staff to implement the new system of review.

"We have spent countless hours working together to create a more equitable and transparent release process,” said David Mauroff, SF Pretrial CEO. “We're excited to implement another phase of bail reform in San Francisco. All justice partners will continue to focus on protecting the public as evidenced by our exemplary safety outcomes."

Approximately four to five people posted bail each day based on the San Francisco Superior Court pre-arraignment bail schedule. Now they must qualify for OR pre-arraignment release through the courts.

The new expedited release procedures apply to defendants who are eligible for OR pre-arraignment release under California law. The federal court judgment also allows certain defendants who are ineligible for OR pre-arraignment release under existing California law to apply to a San Francisco Superior Court judge for such release, but under the terms of the judgment, those defendants are not included in the new expedited procedures.

SF Pretrial has added eight staff to accommodate the increase in pretrial assessments and is now operating 24 hours a day.

Footnotes

*E.g., warrants that are not eligible for release, parole and probation holds.

** “Booking” refers to the time that ID confirmation for an arrestee is received. Riana Buffin, et al., Plaintiffs, vs. City and County of San Francisco, et al, page 2, Footnote 1.