Women held in San Francisco’s county jail said they were forced to strip naked while deputies filmed them and male officers watched and laughed — allegations that have triggered lawsuits, multiple investigations and renewed scrutiny of how the jail system treats women with histories of trauma, mental illness and abuse.
Their accounts surfaced after allegations that at least 19 women held at County Jail No. 2 were mass strip-searched in May 2025. According to a complaint filed by the San Francisco Public Defender’s Office, women were ordered to strip one by one while deputies recorded them on body-worn cameras and male deputies watched and joked nearby.
“The female officer stood in front of me, directed me to take off all of my clothing, my cheeks, bend over, the breasts,” said a woman whose identity is being withheld for privacy. “The door was partially open, and I looked at a male officer off to the side, body cam on, green light. I could see him smiling and laughing.”
Several of the women are suing the city, represented by private attorneys and supported by the public defender’s office. The allegations have triggered investigations by the Department of Police Accountability and other city oversight bodies.
At a March press conference, advocates and attorneys for the women said the searches violated both department policy and basic standards of dignity and privacy.
The San Francisco Sheriff’s Office has disputed aspects of the allegations. Assistant Sheriff Tanzanika Carter said publicly that women “were individually searched by female deputies in single-person stalls.”
Still, the department acknowledged taking administrative action. In a written response to the Public Press, sheriff’s spokesperson Larry Olson said two supervisors assigned to County Jail No. 2 in May 2025 had since been reassigned while investigations continued.
According to sheriff’s office policy cited in the public defender complaint, strip searches are considered “an invasion of privacy” and deputies must “take all reasonable measures” to minimize humiliation and intrusion. Policies also prohibit body-worn cameras during strip searches and generally bar male deputies from observing searches of women.
Sheriff Paul Miyamoto told supervisors the department is reviewing strip-search practices and considering policy changes recommended by community groups, including greater use of body scanners and alternatives to invasive searches.
This episode of “Civic” examines allegations of mass strip searches and reports of lockdowns, overcrowding and untreated mental health concerns inside San Francisco’s women’s jail, drawing on interviews, public hearings, legal history and firsthand accounts to explore the intersection of incarceration, trauma and mental health.
Trauma long predates incarceration
The allegations prompted a March hearing before the San Francisco Board of Supervisors’ Public Safety and Neighborhood Services Committee, where formerly incarcerated women and community organizations described broader conditions inside the jail system.
Julia Arroyo told the board what she’d learned as executive director of the Young Women’s Freedom Center, which provides in-custody support, including healing circles and other services, for women and transgendered people in San Francisco’s jail.
She said the accounts she hears echo what she went through 16 years earlier when she was jailed after being sexually assaulted. She told supervisors she was denied a rape kit, subjected to a strip search while still in crisis, and later released alone in the middle of the night without counseling, services or support.
“I sit in a circle with women and gender expansive people on the inside, and even years later, they still tell the same story,” she said.
Federal research and decades of correctional health studies have found that women entering custody report extremely high rates of prior trauma and abuse, with some studies estimating that up to 90% have experienced physical or sexual violence before incarceration.
Advocates argue that strip searches can be especially damaging in that context. They also say the current controversy raises a larger question beyond the legality of searches themselves: whether county jails are being asked to manage trauma, psychiatric crisis and addiction in environments unequipped to provide such care.
Women describe overcrowding and isolation
San Francisco officials have increasingly emphasized the use of treatment, behavioral health services and rehabilitation inside the jail system. The sheriff’s office annual report highlights programs ranging from music instruction to reentry support and continuity-of-care efforts.
But in written statements collected by the California Coalition for Women Prisoners, incarcerated women described an environment dominated by lockdowns, overcrowding, lack of sunlight and untreated mental health concerns.
“The only time we get any fresh air or sunlight is when we are taken to the hospital,” one woman wrote. “We’re breathing recycled, dusty air through vents that are moldy and dirty.”
Another described standing near her bunk for hours each day during what women characterized as an “indefinite lockdown.”
“If you move out of that area for any reason, a flashlight is in your face and you’re being yelled at to get back to your bunk,” the statement read.
City data suggests the pressure on the women’s unit has intensified in recent years. And advocates and incarcerated women say a growing population has contributed to deteriorating living conditions.
According to jail booking data and reports from the sheriff’s office, the number of women booked into San Francisco’s jail system annually jumped to nearly 2,500 in 2025 from about 1,600 in 2021. At the same time, the average number of women being held inside the jail on any given day nearly doubled over that period, rising from roughly 43 women in 2021 to a peak of 93 in 2024 before declining to 83 in 2025.
That environment can deepen emotional distress and worsen psychological instability, said Diana Block of the California Coalition for Women Prisoners, a grassroots organization that works with incarcerated and formerly incarcerated women and transgender people to challenge conditions inside jails and prisons and push for alternatives to incarceration.
The women’s jail is designed as a temporary detention facility for people awaiting trial. But many women remain incarcerated from several months to several years before their cases are resolved.
“The jail, as it’s constructed, was not meant to be for people in there for years,” Block said.
Block said overcrowding can intensify psychological instability, increasing tension not only among incarcerated women but also among staff working in already strained conditions. She said prolonged confinement, untreated trauma and repeated lockdowns can make conflict and misconduct more likely.
Block said the growing population reflects broader policy choices that continue to rely heavily on incarceration rather than community-based treatment and support programs. She pointed to District Attorney Brooke Jenkins’ emphasis on arrests and prosecution as part of a broader public safety strategy, arguing that the city has invested less heavily in the long-term mental health, housing and trauma recovery services that many women need before entering the jail system.
The district attorney’s office did not respond to a request for comment.
Some organizations are pushing for an approach centering on peer support, leadership development and community-based care. Arroyo said the Young Women’s Freedom Center has invested more than 15,780 hours in leadership training, healing circles and workforce development programs for women and transgender people who experienced incarceration in San Francisco.
“We really want to make sure that we’re building up the muscle for folks to really be able to engage in community-based support and not over reliance on systems,” she said.
