Published by San Francisco Chronicle
San Francisco’s elected officials voted overwhelmingly four years ago to shutter the county’s expensive jail-like juvenile hall, basking in the national accolades that came with their pledge to stop locking young people in cells by the end of 2021.
Every Friday, Lucero Herrera, statewide program director for the Young Women’s Freedom Center, heads into San Francisco’s juvenile hall to work with the incarcerated youth to help them get to a better future. The facility hasn’t changed much since she spent time there as a teen.
Her organization played a significant role in getting the supervisors to support the closure of the hall, which Walton and Ronen confirmed this week was at a standstill, she said.
“They didn’t know what the next steps were on juvenile hall,” she said. “It’s very disappointing.”