um wow what an amazing change of heart

On July 1, San Francisco plans to dismantle SF Pretrial and hand the work to the armed Adult Probation Department. SF Pretrial has a 93% safety rate and is 7.7× cheaper for the city than the alternative. dontdismantlesf.org

Yesterday, the California Supreme Court ruled in In re Kowalczyk that judges can’t keep people locked up before trial simply because they can’t afford bail. The court reaffirmed what should have been obvious: liberty is the norm — detention is the exception.

THREAD. This single headline in the NYT contains two outrageous claims reported as fact: 1) Vance "tried" to end the war; and 2) he "opposed" it. Neither is supported, but the thing to understand is: why is lying about the *intention* of powerful people so key to propaganda?

Calvin Duncan, a man imprisoned for 30 years before he was exonerated, won an election in New Orleans promising to fix a judicial system that failed him Now, Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry and the GOP-controlled Legislature are racing to eliminate his job before he can be sworn in

Lil Nas X's case shows us exactly how mental health diversion is supposed to work — and why we have to protect it. Let them know that you oppose AB 46 and SB 1373 as written. Getting people treatment keeps us all safe. If you’re in California, find your rep here: findyourrep.legislature.ca.gov

Happy to share a new project with @katechatfield.bsky.social. We started a podcast called Due Processing @dueprocessing.bsky.social. It's available in the usual places. Please check it out and send reactions.

Happy St. Patrick's Day, New York.

Daily Memo: Another Kavanaugh Stop, Woman Detained and Released Outside Courthouse

Thing is we don’t have any fucking public restrooms and refuse to offer people healthcare for any mental issues outside of jails or prison, so yeah you have every right to be upset about something like this happening, but you have to understand *why* it happens.

In Bay Area, Felony Charges Against Student Protesters Prompt Free Speech Concerns boltsmag.org/stanford-san...

Imagine what’s happening in the camps.

CPDA Executive Director Kate Chatfield was quoted in an article from Inland Empire Community News, where she voiced support for SB 873. The bill was written to stop federal immigration agents from turning court appearances into arrests for undocumented persons. Read more: iecn.com/senator-reye...

Torture is a feature of life in thousands of US jails and prisons. It’s often blamed on “guards,” but someone had to design this contraption, build it, plan its use, and run it up the chain of command. Judges and lawyers had to create a legal regime where this stuff pervades for decades.

There’s no hope of an anti-fascist coalition if journalists do stuff like this without accountability. Crime was *down* under Boudin, who barely changed anything! It’d be like the SF Chronicle saying: “many in the city blame Boudin for city’s children becoming flat-earthers.”

Not Sure How They Deal With Criminals In Your Town, But ’Round Here We Use A Restorative Justice Process

"District attorneys hold immense authority in people’s lives and in a community. When that authority is exercised by someone who publicly expresses racial, religious, or gender-based bias, it endangers both individual rights and the integrity of the justice system itself.” @katechatfield.bsky.social

Latest statement from CPDA: One Year After Prop. 36 Passes, Incarceration is Increasing, Treatment is Not.

CPDA is collecting information about arrests in and around state courts by immigration agents. If you have witnessed any action by federal agents in and around state courthouses, please fill out this form. Form link: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

Great read.

This was fantastic but I’m not wholly disinterested. www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio...

So this is not just any small county elected official engaging in good old gutter racism. This is an official who wields enormous power over people’s lives and a community. Who gets charged, who gets held in a cage, how many years should be taken from a life… www.sanluisobispo.com/news/local/a...

I am begging people to understand the different powers that a mayor holds and that a prosecutor holds. Begging. www.latimes.com/opinion/stor...

This is so true. They are going to follow the 2020 SF playbook & create hysteria. And everyone is going to fall for it hook, line, and sinker. First and most vociferous perpetrator of this nonsense will be the NYTimes.

The U.S. and the Philippines are the only two countries with a for-profit bail industry, says civil rights lawyer @equalityalec.bsky.social. The insistence that people in pre-trial detention pay to get out of jail leads to "millions of coerced guilty pleas" by poor people each year, he says.

Welcome to the next installment of our CPDA series “What is a public defender?” This week’s question we are answering is “What would a world without public defenders look like?” Submit your questions to [email protected], and we’ll return soon with a new question!

CPDA and its members across California stand united with immigrant communities, labor partners, and local leaders demanding the immediate withdrawal of CBP agents from the Bay Area. California’s commitment to justice and sanctuary cannot coexist with the federal militarization of our streets.

I’ve been saying this for decades now…

Remember Prop 36? Which promised to "help everyone come indoors" through longer prison sentences and drug treatments? Guess how many people completed the drug treatment in the first 6 months! Did you guess... 25? calmatters.org/justice/2025...

I saw myself as maybe all in for J.B. Pritzker But I am losing faith, rapidly. Police state fascism in America is bigger than Trump. It's backed by Democrats just like Republicans. And it's not going anywhere

I get it, ICE is doing insane things. Some pretend that state & local police haven’t subjected brown & black folk to same pain for time immemorial. BUT: Furtive glances and/or particula skin or bumper stickers or cultural affiliation have been enough to nullify the 4th amendment for a long time.

aaand we are officially in the hide-your-neighbors stage

An “immigration judge” is not an actual judge in the judicial branch. They are a DOJ employee. As Judge Young, an actual judge, made clear in one of the truly essential parts of his Tuesday ruling. www.lawdork.com/p/judge-will...

CPDA Executive Director Kate Chatfield spoke to @calmatters.org re: how resentencing is working for the formerly incarcerated: “If you are looking at public safety, there is no reason to hold people in prison after they age out. That is what this data shows.” Read: calmatters.org/justice/2025...

“Well, the next time someone brings up a terrible anecdote about Cambodia or Vietnam, I will definitely drop the Star Wars story to show that people have two sides.” Chotiner is comedy gold. www.newyorker.com/news/q-and-a...

Tens of thousands of protestors marched in dozens of Italian cities today while strikes brought trains and highway transport to a halt after unions called a nationwide walkout in support of Palestinians in Gaza.

Public defenders have warned for decades: Police cannot be trusted to protect anything but capital. The police state is bad. The surveillance state is bad. Courts won't save us. Our laws are enforced selectively and oppressively. Due process is flexible at best. Wish we were correct less often.

Damn, he's good, and right.

“California’s largest immigration detention center has already filled up with 500 [people] since it quietly opened 2 weeks ago…advocates and lawyers say..private prison operator CoreCivic flouted state laws and the municipal code in its rapid pursuit to open…” www.fresnobee.com/news/local/a...

if you say "chesa boudin" 3 times in the mirror you will see a preview of what the next several years in NYC will look like

The fastest-growing homeless population in America? School-age children. Last year, student homelessness in California—where rents continue to soar past wages—rose by 20,000, reaching its highest level in a decade. But sure, keep insisting homelessness is all about mental illness and addiction.

A big hurdle is going to be the fact that a lot of people were just calling for what Trump’s doing as recently as a year or so ago in the name of fighting homelessness and shoplifting. So acknowledging the racism and violence he intends now puts that recent advocacy in quite a poor light.

New today - @calpublicdefenders.bsky.social and @katechatfield.bsky.social in @kqednews.kqed.org on a CPDA-sponsored bill to require police to disclose AI use in reports: www.kqed.org/news/1205077...

CPDA Executive Director @katechatfield.bsky.social was quoted in a story from the @sfchronicle.com about the passing of AB 379, which increases penalties for commercial sex, including making loitering in public a misdemeanor. Full story: www.sfchronicle.com/california/a...

Welcome to our Member Spotlight, where CPDA shares more about its amazing members. This week we’re spotlighting Cecilia Fierro, Deputy Public Defender for Contra Costa County. Learn more about the work we do at www.cpda.org!

Compared to the general population, unhoused people are held in jail for 3.5x as long, despite typically being charged with the lowest level crimes It’s safe to assume that unaffordable cash bail is to blame. No one should have to stay behind bars because they can't afford bail