Mirkarimi is creating a model county jail

Ron Conway

From a story (SF County Jail considered a model for prison realignment) in the Examiner last week about a visit by the head of the state's prison system:

"You can't force programming on county jails, but you see I think most county jails want to do it," said Beard, adding that he has been saying to sheriffs that they should examine what's happening in San Francisco. The County Jail's programming is a multidisciplinary approach to dealing with prisoners from violence-reduction programs to mental health counseling, job training and drug treatment.

These efforts are part of the reason the state prison system is already cooperating with San Francisco in a program started this year called a re-entry pod, which sends prison inmates who only have 60 days until release to serve the remainder of their time in San Francisco. Once here, they are put into programs that include high school and nascent vocational classes, among others, so that upon release they are better prepared for the world outside.

Sheriff Mirkarimi isn't mentioned until the last sentence in the story, but he deserves credit for making this happen.

In other Mirkarimi news: Ron Conway paid for ads hammering Supervisor Campos for voting to allow Mirkarimi to keep his job, implying that the vote means that Campos supports domestic abuse, a slur that's rejected by state feminists.

Recall that Conway actually helped elect Mirkarimi in the first place by supporting Chris Cunnie's last-minute entry in the race, making a two-candidate race into a three-way race, splitting the anti-Mirkarimi vote and allowing the Murk to win.

If Conway hadn't meddled in that campaign---he gave Cunnie $35,000---Paul Miyamoto would have been elected sheriff, and the whole Mirkarimi kerfuffle would have been avoided.

But all's well that ends well, since Mirkarimi has been an excellent sheriff in spite of being treated as a non-person by City Hall.