San Francisco court moves to cut nonprofit pretrial diversion program

San Francisco Superior Court moved to sever ties with the San Francisco Pretrial Diversion Project, putting at risk a nonprofit program that has kept 95 people out of jail while the city faces a $643 million deficit and would likely need to hire dozens of new probation staff to replace it. The fight is now centered less on whether the work matters than on who would pay if it disappears, and what would happen immediately to people who rely on court reminders, case management and release support while awaiting trial.

The nonprofit said it has touched 6,542 lives, produced 2,282 successful completions and avoided 630,394 days of unnecessary confinement over nearly five decades of service. Its records say clients attended more than 19,000 court dates from January 2023 through May 2024, with an appearance rate above 96% for scheduled hearings. The group says its services are built around alternatives to money bail and incarceration, including outreach, case management, court reminders, escort services and referrals to housing, behavioral health treatment and public benefits.

The court’s concerns focus on financial transparency and reporting. The nonprofit disputes that description and says public disclosures are available and that transparency and accountability are central to its mission. The dispute lands in the middle of a budget crisis that has already pushed city leaders to look for duplicate spending to cut. San Francisco currently pays more than $8 million a year to the nonprofit, while the Adult Probation Department has separately sought $12.7 million for a new pretrial-services program that would replicate services already being delivered by the nonprofit.

That proposed shift would hand the work to the San Francisco Adult Probation Department, a 110-plus-year-old agency that says it is focused on evidence-based practices, public safety and a victim-centered approach. Its chief, Cristel Tullock, is the first person in department history to rise through the ranks to become chief, and she has pushed modernization efforts after years of experience implementing the 2011 Public Safety Realignment Act.

The broader policy backdrop reaches beyond City Hall. California’s statewide pretrial-services program, funded through the Budget Act of 2021, was designed to help courts make release decisions using the least restrictive conditions needed to protect public safety and ensure people return to court. San Francisco Pretrial says the city’s pretrial-services history dates to 1964, when the O.R. Project began in the San Francisco Bar Association with San Francisco Foundation funding. That long arc makes the current clash another turn in a half-century debate over whether pretrial support in San Francisco should stay in the hands of an independent nonprofit or be brought under probation control.