Archive

The ACLU Foundation of Northern California sued the California Department of State Hospitals for refusing to provide public records about severely mentally ill individuals who died in jail, while waiting to get treatment at a state facility. At least 35 people died in one five year period alone. DSH claimed it did not keep track of the in-custody deaths of people on its waitlist. Read More

The ACLU Foundation of Northern California filed a lawsuit to compel the California Department of State Hospitals to produce records about severely mentally ill people who died in jail, while awaiting transfer to a treatment facility. Read More

Original writ petition challenging California’s death-penalty system under the state constitution’s equal protection provisions. Read More

A federal district court issued a preliminary injunction prohibiting the San Francisco Sheriff’s Office (SFSO) from requiring that individuals agree to unconstitutional “four-way” searches and GPS location data-sharing as conditions of pretrial release on electronic monitoring absent a court order. Read More

This joint report from ACLU NorCal and Catalyst California (formerly Advancement Project California) highlights strategies Sacramento County leaders should make to improve community safety and reduce systemic racial inequity in the criminal legal system. An analysis of 2019 data collected under California’s Racial and Identity Profiling Act (RIPA) found that the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office ... Read More

The 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) is an opportunity to redouble our commitment to its principles worldwide. For those individuals and organizations whose focus is human rights within the United States, we are called to do two things. First, rather than cede the US Constitution to powerful forces who would use it to turn back the clock, we must embrace a visio... Read More

The ACLU of Northern California announced its strong opposition to the recall of Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price, the first Black woman DA in the county’s history. Read More

The new policy allows a defendant with an active arrest warrant to schedule an initial court appearance through their attorney regardless of their financial means. Someone who can’t afford bail must still appear at the jail for an informal booking. However they won’t be taken into custody. Once in court, a judge makes an individualized determination about whether that person should remain out of c... Read More

California prisons systematically profile and report suspected immigrants to ICE, a new public record act investigation reveals. Read More

- The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) systematically, and illegally, discriminates against immigrants, refugees, and anyone who prison officials suspect is born outside of the United States. Read More