Community wants transparency from sheriff at SF General Hospital

The Sheriff Department Oversight Board’s fourth community meeting, held Friday in the Mission, attracted five participants who were more interested in discussing their concerns with the Sheriff’s Office at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital than their opinions on the qualities to look for in a new inspector general.

Still, the five participants were more than the previous three outreach meetings combined.

“Ninety-nine percent of incarcerated people in the birth center are restrained,” said Alex Villareal Delgado, a student and registered nurse at the University of California, San Francisco, who was one of three attendees from a coalition called DPH (The Department of Public Health) Must Divest, a group advocating to remove the Sheriff’s Department from San Francisco General and Department of Health clinics, where deputies currently are the primary security personnel.

The birth center houses all services for pregnant women. The group was not suggesting that deputies are breaking the law which prohibits patients from being restrained during labor, but rather would like to see a policy change so that incarcerated pregnant patients are not handcuffed when seeking medical services prior to childbirth.

The two other members of DPH Must Divest identified themselves as a medical student and a clinical librarian.

The three voiced concerns about the use of force on patients, particularly when patients are forcibly discharged and involuntarily admitted. 

The medical student, who asked to remain nameless, said that the group had filed for public records on the use of force and arrests made at the hospital, but had not received adequate information.

“SFPD is all up in San Francisco General,” he said, adding that patients’ belongings are sometimes seized without proper warrants, and police are present in operating rooms.

Villareal Delgado said that the coalition not only would like their records requests answered, but also wants complaints against sheriff’s deputies made at SF General to be available to the public.

“We want transparency with the rest of the community,” he said.

Board members were receptive to the concerns raised by the three, promising to follow up with DPH and the Sheriff’s Office, to ask for a presentation from DPH on the topic, and to visit SF General themselves.

An older gentleman attending the meeting expressed concerns about sheriff’s deputies in the Mission harassing residents, what he called “random public abuse.” He tied this concern back to the meeting topic, saying that he hopes the inspector general “understands and is sensitive” to the issue.

These are among the kind of complaints the new inspector general will investigate. The job posting has received a double-digit number of applications and will be closing soon. The board will select a candidate by October.

The first two meetings — held in District 10 and District 5 — attracted just one participant each. The third, held in District 11, had two.   

At the close of the meeting, the clinical librarian asked the board what they are looking for in an inspector general.

William Palmer II said he valued restorative justice practices.

Dion-Jay Brookter said he is looking for someone who has spent time in the community, and who has “morals and integrity.”

Xochitl Carrion said she wanted someone who is “engaged and educating themself in diverse communities,” and who understands trauma-informed care. She said she also wants someone progressive, as well as “data-based” and “science-based.”

Julie Soo said she wants “someone who has a vision.”

The meeting was the first to run for the entire two-hour time slot. The board members asked attendees how they learned of the meeting.

The medical student said a member of DPH Must Divest had sent a Mission Local article to the group. Another participant said he had read about it in Mission Local. The older gentleman was the last to disclose how he had found his way to the Mission Arts Center’s auditorium.

“The same way everybody else has,” he said.

The next sheriff’s oversight meeting will take place on Friday, May 19, from 6 to 8 p.m. in the Richmond, at 251 8th Ave. The board can also be reached for comment at SDOB@sfgov.org.