The San Francisco Board of Supervisors voted Tuesday to shut down the county’s Juvenile Hall by 2021, in a landmark move for criminal justice reform. The legislation has sped through City Hall; it was only put forth by Supervisors Shamann Walton, Hillary Ronen, and Matt Haney in April. The Board voted 10-1 to shut the youth jail down, with Supervisor Catherine Stefani in dissent.
“All of the changes that people like myself have made in our lives have been a result of mentorship, and quality after-school programs… but it has never been because of time spent in Juvenile Hall,” Walton, who spent time incarcerated as a youth. “We are proposing an alternative that offers a true opportunity for young people to be rehabilitated… Individualized plans that focus on the person, and not the infraction.”