Nine women held in San Francisco County Jail No. 2 on Seventh Street filed a class-action lawsuit yesterday against the city, sheriff’s department and city officials providing health services in the jail.
The women claim that the “dirty” and “unhealthy” conditions they’ve been subjected to in the jail are worse than what men endure. They are seeking more consistent access to sunlight, exercise space, hot water and healthier food.
“Even in jail, women are second-class citizens with fewer rights than men,” wrote civil rights attorney Yolanda Huang in a statement.
“Women inmates suffer from fewer privileges, less access to fewer jail jobs, and until recently, overcrowding and a total lack of access to programming as compared to male inmates,” her suit read.
The women are demanding damages and a jury trial for what they claim to be conditions that violate both the federal and state constitutions.
“Once we are served with the lawsuit, we will review the complaint and respond in court,” wrote Jen Kwart, a spokesperson for the City Attorney’s Office, in a statement to Mission Local.
This lawsuit comes just weeks after 20 women in custody filed a separate class-action lawsuit against the city over an alleged May 2025 mass strip search and ongoing harassment.
While the May 2025 incident is under review, the sheriff’s department is looking at “services and resources available to female inmates” to “identify opportunities to expand access to supportive programming and city services,” a public information officer wrote in a statement last month.
People inside County Jail No. 2 in San Francisco’s South of Market neighborhood are “never permitted outdoor access” because the facility does not have an outdoor yard, the complaint alleges. Unlike men, women cannot be transferred to the larger County Jail No. 3 in San Bruno.
After Huang filed a class-action lawsuit in 2023 regarding access to sunlight in the jail for men and women, a federal judge ruled that San Francisco must give people incarcerated for over a year must be given at least 15 minutes of daily exposure.
“The deprivation of outdoor light and sunlight, combined with constant exposure to artificial interior lighting, causes inmates to suffer harm to their circadian rhythms and a range of associated health conditions,” Monday’s complaint read.
“Chronic plumbing malfunctions,” an “insect infestation” and “inadequate hot water” in County Jail No. 2 also add to a general feeling of filth, the complaint alleges. In interviews with Mission Local, several men and women in custody have described similar issues.
According to the complaint, Jail Health Services, the facility’s healthcare provider through the Department of Public Health, merely hands out pills instead of “addressing inmates’ genuine health needs and welfare.”
Multiple women said they had trouble sleeping, gained weight and developed digestive issues after eating a largely starch-based diet in custody.
Several city healthcare workers told Mission Local that San Francisco’s Jail Health Services are among the best in the state. But they said that nurses are overwhelmed by an influx of incarcerated patients that quickly cycle in and out of jail.