SF officials to settle suit over jail conditions

SAN FRANCISCO » City officials in San Francisco have agreed to settle a lawsuit with more than 200 inmates who were swamped with sewage for months in the county jail.

One of the attorneys in the case, Stanley Goff, confirmed the agreement without disclosing the amount, The San Francisco Chronicle reported Tuesday.

The Board of Supervisors must still approve the settlement, officials said. The city attorney’s office did not return phone calls and messages seeking comment.

County Jail No. 4 near the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge holds 371 inmates and sits on the seventh floor of the Hall of Justice, officials said. The city also operates three other jails.

Faulty plumbing burst on the building’s third floor in late 2016 and hazmat crews evacuated some offices to install a trap device further backing up sewage, officials said. The sewage began to spill out of toilets and pipes in the jail at the beginning of 2017, officials said.

Inmates were held in such conditions between January 2017 and September 2018, officials said.