8 charged in alleged attacks on S.F. deputies
Eight people incarcerated at San Francisco county jails have been charged in connection with a rash of alleged attacks on deputies, incidents that prompted a dayslong lockdown and a call for assistance from the National Guard.
Sheriff ’s officials said the incidents appeared to be unrelated and took place over the span of about two weeks, raising questions about whether underlying jail conditions or a longrunning staffing shortage factored into the spate of violence.
The people facing new charges in relation to the alleged deputy attacks were identified as Deandre Joubert, 26; Paris Powell, 23; Jeffrey Walker, 60; Cameron Davis, 30; Javares Singleton, 19; Keshon Wilson, 23; William Powell, 52; and Maia Tillman, 23.
Several suspects had been in custody for three years or more, awaiting trials on serious charges including murder and attempted murder. Others were booked on lesser charges as recently as this year for offenses including burglary and parole violations.
Sheriff Paul Miyamoto said investigators interviewed the suspects to determine what motivated
the attacks. While there was no evidence of coordination, Miyamoto said, “they had a common theme of kind of going after people who were enforcing the rules.”
Miyamoto characterized the incidents as emotional outbursts from people who were angry about a certain jail rule or were asked to do something they didn’t want to do. Some suspects were also housed in administrative segregation, commonly referred to solitary confinement — conditions
known to be highly stressful and damaging to mental health.
Yolanda Huang, the lead attorney in a class action lawsuit against the San Francisco Sheriff’s Office for depriving incarcerated people of access to sunlight, said the recent incidents may have been brought on by conditions at the county jails.
Essentially, Huang said, “I think people are just losing it.”
Huang said the jail’s lockdowns compound the tensions already boiling from lack of sunlight and two years of pandemic-era lockdowns.
“If anyone’s having trouble behaving, that’s a reason why,” she said.
The alleged attacks took place both at San Francisco’s jail in San Bruno as well as its downtown location. It was not immediately clear whether a lack of exposure to sunlight contributed to the recent alleged incidents.
Huang said she agreed with deputy union president Ken Lomba’s contention that the jail’s problems stem from a longrunning staffing shortage. Lomba said deputies were exhausted by the amount of overtime they’re working to fill the vacancies.
“This excessive overtime not only contributes to fatigue and health issues” but also hinders them from managing incidents on the job, Lomba wrote in a recent open letter demanding “urgent staffing solutions.”
Officials with the San Francisco Public Defender’s Office, who represent some of the suspects, noted that the jail population had increased in recent years to pre-pandemic levels, and said that sheriff ’s deputies recently deployed to make drug arrests in the streets would be more beneficial serving the jails.
“Reducing the jail population would be safer for everyone who is detained, housed, employed or needs access to our jails and courts, but too many resources have been misdirected to carry out carceral approaches to our public health crises,” the public defenders said in a statement.
Miyamoto said the office has cut down the number of shifts deputies are required to take for overtime, and that it is constantly seeking ways to hire more aggressively amid what has been a national staffing shortage of peace officers.
In response to the recent alleged deputy assaults, Miyamoto said the office will reinforce training for similar situations, with focuses on de-escalation, assertiveness and personal safety.
Still, Miyamoto objected to a controversial solution proposed by the deputy union president: calling for backup from the National Guard. Such measures are premature, Miyamoto said.
“We don’t need help staffing the jails from an outside source,” he said. “Because, although we’re short-staffed, we are more than capable of handling the work right now.”