The San Francisco County Sheriff's Office says it has placed two San Francisco jails on lockdown after an increase in attacks on deputies and jail staff by inmates.
In the wake of these attacks, the union representing San Francisco's County Deputy sheriffs demanded assistance Saturday from the California National Guard to solve a critical staffing shortage in the county's jails.
This weekend, the Sheriff's Office put both County Jail #2 in downtown San Francisco and County Jail #3 in San Bruno on lockdown, putting all visits, programs, and services at those locations on hold. In a release, the Sheriff's Office said normal operations at the jails would resume next week, but didn't specify exactly when.
The Sheriff's Office says since March 29, inmates have injured seven staff members.
Ken Lomba, the president of the San Francisco Deputy Sheriffs' Association said that since March 24, inmates have attacked deputy sheriffs nine times. Lomba said that inmates have been attacking other inmates as well.
Due to the ongoing investigations into these attacks, Lomba said that he couldn't share many specifics about them.
Local
But he did describe the recent attacks as "aggressive" and "combative."
"On April 12th it was like the worst day in my history of the department, it just felt like the bottom just fell out of the department, cause of all of the attacks on deputies and the prisoner-on-prisoner fights," Lomba said. He couldn't share details of what happened that day beyond that a deputy had been attacked.
Get a weekly recap of the latest San Francisco Bay Area housing news. >Sign up for NBC Bay Area’s Housing Deconstructed newsletter.
Lomba believes this spike in violence is directly related to a staffing shortage in the department.
Saturday, he sent a letter to the sheriff, the mayor, and the president of the board of supervisors, citing escalating prisoner violence and injuries to deputies and civilians who work in the jails.
"In 2023 alone, there were 240 reported incidents of prisoner fights, representing a 58% increase from the previous year," said Ken Lomba, the president of the San Francisco Deputy Sheriffs' Association.
In the letter, Lomba demanded that the sheriff call in the California National Guard to temporarily assist with staffing.
In addition to serving as jail guards, deputies provide security to city hall and county courts.
Lomba said the National Guard could temporarily supplement current staffing levels.
"Their presence is crucial to provide immediate relief and enhance the safety and security of our facilities for all personnel and inmates," he said in the letter posted on the union's website.
The jail's inmate population stood at 1,137 as of Friday, according to the sheriff's department's website.
An announcement on the website on Saturday said visits to inmates by members of the community and parent-child visits were canceled through Monday.
The county operates jails in downtown San Francisco and in San Bruno, in San Mateo County.
Bay City News contributed to the report.
