San Francisco, CA — Mayor London N. Breed today announced a long-awaited plan to achieve San Francisco’s longstanding priority of closing the Hall of Justice to make way for a future consolidated Justice Campus. This plan means that San Francisco will be moving all incarcerated people out of the seismically unsafe Bryant Street wing of the building no later than July 2021, to coincide with the previously announced administrative exit.

The long-term vision for the Hall of Justice site and adjacent parcels includes a consolidated Justice Campus to focus on victim’s services and the rehabilitation and treatment of offenders. The future site will incorporate administrative space, courts, and centralized best practices in criminal and social justice services for all people. The Campus will co-locate facilities including the Sheriff’s Department, Adult Probation, the Public Defender’s Office, the District Attorney’s Office, and the Superior Courts, returning those operations that were relocated to temporary leased spaces as part of the Hall of Justice exit. The Campus will include a mix of mental health beds, substance use treatment beds, reentry transitional housing for people exiting the criminal justice system, and jail beds, if necessary.

“We need to reform our criminal justice system to reduce incarceration, but we also need places to hold people accountable for their actions and to offer rehabilitative services,” said Mayor Breed. “While we work to implement this long-term Justice Campus, it’s important that we move incarcerated individuals out of the existing Hall of Justice as soon as we can and we are exploring all options to transfer people to better and more humane conditions.”

“Working together we can create a service center that will serve the needs of the residents of San Francisco,” said Sheriff Vicki Hennessy. “By moving forward in a thoughtful and fair manner in coordinating all our resources we can find the best outcomes for those whose lives intersect the justice system.”

This long-term project is currently slated for construction starting as early as 2028, with demolition of the Hall’s Bryant Street wing funded in 2025. The Mayor plans to explore accelerating this much-needed initiative with the Capital Planning Committee. Specific designs for the building layout, types and number of beds required, and physical space will be determined through an implementation group directed by the City Administrator.

“Exiting the Hall of Justice has been a top priority of the City’s 10-Year Capital Plan since its first publication,” said City Administrator Naomi M. Kelly who also chairs the Capital Planning Committee. “We have made good progress with the administrative exit in sight, we can make way for an efficient, safe, and rehabilitation-focused justice campus downtown.”

San Francisco will continue working to reduce the number of people held at County Jail 4 at 850 Bryant. This will include new investments in pre-trial assessments and sentencing reforms, and is supported by the Mayor’s significant investment in behavioral mental health beds and substance use beds, which help divert people to services instead of incarceration. Mayor Breed has also overseen a significant expansion of pretrial release services through the San Francisco Pretrial Diversion Project, support for the Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion program that redirects individuals to community‐based services, and the creation of a pretrial release unit at the Public Defender’s Office.

In summer 2021, the remaining administrative functions at 850 Bryant will be relocated. Mayor Breed’s plan calls for relocating the remaining incarcerated individuals out of County Jail 4 by to an alternative facility on a temporary basis until construction of the future campus is complete. San Francisco is currently exploring the fiscal and physical feasibility of several new options, including out-of-county facilities, but no location has been determined yet.

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