By Sarah Roebuck
Corrections1
SAN FRANCISCO — Lockdowns at two San Francisco County jails are anticipated to be lifted after a series of assaults on deputies and other staff members by inmates at the facilities, KGO reports.
Since late March, nine deputies and seven staff members have been injured in San Francisco County jails #2 and #3, the sheriff’s office said.
In one incident, an inmate, who was restrained and in handcuffs, bit a deputy so hard that the inmate’s teeth went through two layers of clothing and broke the skin, Sheriff Paul Miyamoto said during a news conference.
During a second incident, an unrestrained inmate punched a deputy twice, resulting in the deputy sustaining a head injury from falling to the floor, according to Miyamoto.
“Over the past week, as I’ve mentioned, we’ve had a number of deputies go out on injuries that include punches to the head, face and neck. Being spit at and kicked in the head. Slammed against walls. Which result in the injuries of bone fractures, dislocated shoulders and bloody eye sockets,” Miyamoto said during a news conference.
Miyamoto said the lockdown at County #2 will end on April 17. County #3’s lockdown will reopen later in the week pending an investigation into a two-hour barricade incident.
The sheriff said the increase in attacks is due to low staffing levels, lack of housing space and more serious and violent offenders being housed in the county jails for long periods of time.
The San Francisco Deputy Sheriffs’ Association, representing the impacted workers, has called on local authorities to deploy the California National Guard to address staffing shortages at county jails and enhance security.
“Recent incidents, including an alarming increase in prisoner fights, attacks on prisoners by other prisoners, and injuries to civilian employees and deputy sheriffs, highlight the pressing need for additional staffing and resources within the Sheriff’s Office,” union president Ken Lomba said in a letter to officials, including Mayor London Breed and San Francisco Board of Supervisors president Aaron Peskin.