[Ppnews] SF has fewer black residents but more blacks in jail

[Political Prisoner News]

SF has fewer black residents but more blacks in jail

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/05/05/BAC210H930.DTL

Chronicle Staff Report

Tuesday, May 6, 2008

(05-05) 19:36 PDT San Francisco -- As San Francisco's population of 
African American residents has decreased in recent years, the 
population of black men and women locked up in the San Francisco 
County Jail has increased dramatically, Sheriff Michael Hennessey said Monday.

More than 60 percent of all prisoners are African American, according 
to a survey of the city jail's population. And of the 282 female 
prisoners, 67 percent are black.

About 42 percent of the jail population is in custody for drug 
offenses, the study found.

A similar study in 1996 found that half of the jail population was 
African American. A 2005 study put the number at 53 percent.

In contrast, 6.7 percent of San Francisco residents are black- a 
number that has been in steady decline, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Hennessey said the criminal justice system and the war on drugs are 
"disproportionately adversely affecting San Francisco's African 
American community."

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/05/06/BAC210H930.DTL




Freedom Archives
522 Valencia Street
San Francisco, CA 94110

415 863-9977

www.Freedomarchives.org  
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://freedomarchives.org/pipermail/ppnews_freedomarchives.org/attachments/20080507/26379f60/attachment.htm>