New travesty in jail-fights case
It has been said that the only thing necessary for evil to triumph is that good people do nothing. The good people of San Francisco now have the opportunity to demand that an evil in our midst be held accountable for a terrible injustice.
On Friday, the San Francisco district attorney dismissed a case against a former employee and two current employees of the San Francisco’s Sheriff ’s Department who were charged with orchestrating brutal and sadistic gladiator-style fighting between inmates. The district attorney was forced to do so after possible evidence in the case was destroyed by the Sheriff ’s Office.
The San Francisco public defender’s office first became aware of these events in 2015 when a few inmates stepped forward with barbarous stories of their treatment at the hands of guards at County Jail No. 4. The stories we heard sounded like they were right out of an episode of “Locked Up Abroad,” but were in fact taking place right here in our city.
Specifically, Deputy Scott Neu — who was fired in the wake of the scandal — was accused of pitting inmates in fights in which bets among the guards were placed. The inmates — all of whom were people of color — described having food withheld until they fought, being threatened with transfer to a worse jail or losing jail privileges, and even being threatened with beatings and sexual assault if they did not comply. The accusations were more than credible. The city had already settled a sexual assault case against Neu in 2009.
The public defender’s office investigated the inmates’ claims fully, even going so far as to hire an outside investigator to interview witnesses. All of the information compiled was handed over to then-Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi and the district attorney so that they could stand up for what was right and enforce justice.
Instead, the criminal case was botched. The Sheriff ’s Department claims that a computer hard drive with possible evidence favorable to the defendants was destroyed with a hammer to eradicate “a virus.”
There’s certainly a “virus” invading its host, but it’s not biological: It’s bureaucratic. The Sheriff ’s Department has existed with its own set of rules and with no real oversight for far too long. It is imperative that we bring reform to this blighted but powerful entity. Neu has slipped through the cracks and has evaded accountability for his crimes. This flies in the face of everything that our criminal justice system is supposed to stand for.
If we grade a society by how it treats the least of its members — including those who are incarcerated — then San Francisco gets a solid F. If we allow those who are entrusted with upholding the law to somehow escape justice for their own wrongdoings, then we are enabling evildoers in law enforcement.
As we honor our past during Black History Month and reflect on the teachings of Martin Luther King Jr., we must replace rote platitudes with real actions that he would advocate. King fought against racism and poverty, two things that bind the vast majority of our city’s inmates to their jailers. He himself was jailed.
Neu has shown that the content of his character is vacant, but allowing such appalling behavior to be covered up and ultimately go unpunished is a far worse travesty of justice.
Neu and his co-conspirators Eugene Jones and Clifford Chiba weren’t the first accused of preying on inmates and won’t be the last. That is why it is imperative we demand oversight of the sheriff ’s office from the San Francisco Department of Police Accountability or some other independent agency. The Board of Supervisors must hold a hearing about what has happened and take the appropriate steps to rectify it.
We cannot continue to look away while people in power abuse their privilege. Good people must do something.