- “We’re coming together today because there was a line that was crossed on the inside.” – Julia Arroyo, Executive Director of the Young Women’s Freedom Center
- “This is not justice. This is violence. This is trauma.” – Tanisha Cannon, managing director for Legal Services for Prisoners with Children
- “The sexual abuse of women does not make us safe. Humiliating people in your care does not make us safe.” – Asia Nicole Duncan, representative of the Harvey Milk LGBTQ Democratic Club
SAN FRANCISCO — Community leaders, advocates, elected officials, and directly impacted women gathered outside the San Francisco County Jail Monday morning, calling for accountability after reports revealed deputies ordered women in custody to strip in front of male deputies wearing body-worn cameras — a practice advocates say violates constitutional protections, state law, and basic human dignity.
The press conference was organized after Mission Local reported that deputies laughed and joked while women were forced to remove clothing in front of one another. Community members said the incident retraumatized survivors of assault, humiliated women who have not been convicted of a crime, and reflected a larger pattern of unchecked abuse inside the jail system.
Speakers said the public was not only reacting to a single event, but to a long-standing pattern of reports involving violence, retaliation, policy violations, sexual assault, and degrading treatment in San Francisco’s jail system.
Julia Arroyo, Executive Director of the Young Women’s Freedom Center and one of the organizers of the event, opened the press conference by saying, “We’re coming together today because there was a line that was crossed on the inside. The people that are inside of here have not yet been convicted of a crime. They’re awaiting [court proceedings] and inside. We want to make sure that people are safe and treated with the most humane dignity on the inside. And a line was crossed.”
Arroyo added, “People were asked to undress. They were [subjected to] a video recorder, they were filmed.”
Advocates say the strip searches were not done privately, without suspicion, and violated existing policy requiring protected, trauma-informed procedures for such searches.
The allegations come on the heels of another report that a trans woman detained in the same jail was sexually assaulted by a deputy. Public defenders and advocates noted that the Sheriff’s Office recently issued a policy requiring strip searches after attorney visits without reasonable suspicion.
Attorney Elizabeth Tino, who represents 19 of the women subjected to the search, told the crowd she had met each of them personally. “I have talked to each of these 19 women face to face. I have heard the horror story of what happened that day and I’ve seen the tear in their eyes when they talk about what happened and despite their fear, despite the retaliation, despite the fact that they have to be in the county jail with the very perpetrators who did that to them that day, they still are speaking out.”
Tino said, “This is not going away. This is not being swept under the rug. We are not asking for an apology. We’re demanding change.”
Advocates emphasized that most people held inside the jail have not been convicted and are legally presumed innocent.
Tanisha Cannon, managing director for Legal Services for Prisoners with Children, said, “Women were recently stripped, searched in front of each other. Let’s let that sink in. These are mothers, these are sisters, these are aunties. These are human beings that were forced to stand exposed, humiliated, and violated. This is not justice. This is violence. This is trauma.”
Cannon continued, “If folks are legally innocent, they’re awaiting trials, they’re waiting for their cases and they’re just trying to survive.”
Representatives of the Harvey Milk LGBTQ Democratic Club also spoke, calling on city leaders to act.
“There is something deeply wrong with the San Francisco Sheriff’s Office and we are tired,” said Asia Nicole Duncan. “The sexual abuse of women does not make us safe. Humiliating people in your care does not make us safe. And protecting law enforcement deputies who abuse their power absolutely does not make us safe.”
Duncan said the deputies involved “must be removed from their posts immediately.”
Public officials also attended the rally. Supervisor Connie Chan said, “If no one is safe under their watch, how can we trust them that they can keep all of us safe inside and outside when no one is watching?”
Chan said the oversight structure for the Sheriff’s Department has not been given sufficient funding or authority.
Supervisor Jackie Fielder called the incident “gender-based violence,” adding, “What made them think that they could actually get away with this? With the humiliation, the sexual violence, what actually led them to think that they could abuse women in this way and not be held accountable?”
Speakers criticized recent prosecutorial and jail policies they say have contributed to overcrowding, instability, and harm.
Tinisch Hollins, Executive Director of Californians for Safety and Justice, said, “This is gross misconduct and this abuse of authority… this isn’t just about a few bad actors, it’s about leadership and systems because leadership sets the tone.”
Hollins told the crowd she is both a survivor and someone with a loved one currently housed in the jail. “My family has a right to justice and I don’t trust this system, but it cannot continue to fail.”
San Francisco Public Defender Mano Raju said the conditions and the search itself reflect systemic failures.
“No one deserves to be dehumanized, threatened, and humiliated in our jails,” Raju said. “San Francisco jails are already filled with people who are vulnerable, vulnerable because of racism, sexism, poverty and trauma. What these women endured in this mass strip search and the harassment that continued afterwards is unacceptable and unjust.”
Raju noted that as of Nov. 21, the jail population was at 1,337 people, including 89 women, and said overcrowding and punitive policies are contributing factors.
He also highlighted routine lockdowns and the Sheriff’s Office policy requiring strip searches after attorney visits, saying the system has prioritized enforcement over safety and dignity.
“We underscore our demands for transparency and accountability from the Sheriff’s Office,” he said.
Family members of incarcerated women also spoke publicly.
“We were heartbroken and we were furious,” said Veronica, translating for Families for Dignity and Justice. “Incarceration does not erase humanity. It does not erase dignity.”
She added, “No parents should lie awake imagining the worst. No family should have to beg for transparency and no human being should ever lose their dignity.”
Many speakers shared lived experience, including formerly incarcerated women who said they recognized the pattern.
Katie Dixon said, “Here we go again… let’s be clear, this was an incident of sexual misconduct, sexual assault.”
Dixon pointed to recent statewide scandals involving correctional officers and sexual misconduct, saying, “We are on your ass. This type of behavior is coming to an end.”
Formerly incarcerated women described the impact on daily life inside. One woman said, “Some of the new women think that was normal to get strip searched with the body camera and that’s not okay.”
She said incarcerated women who tried to report the incident struggled to find forms, advocates, or channels to file complaints, and some feared retaliation.
At the rally, Arroyo reminded the crowd that she was formerly incarcerated in the same facility. “It’s not jail. Jail didn’t change me,” she said. “These facilities don’t make you well.”
The community is demanding immediate suspension of deputies involved, removal of personnel pending investigation, protections against retaliation, an independent investigation and the release of women who were subjected to the search.
“Incarcerated women deserve dignity and safety — not public humiliation,” Arroyo said in the press release. “Being in jail does not mean losing your humanity.”
Raju said in the release, “More than 1,300 people sit in our county jails — many already carrying the weight of racism, sexism, poverty, and trauma. This mass strip search piled trauma on top of trauma.”
Advocates said the incident is not isolated, and that it represents how systems treat marginalized women — especially Black, Brown, LGBTQ+, and disabled women.
Speakers closed the event by chanting, “No more.”
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