Supervisor calls for investigation into prison company following death Tenderloin facility
SAN FRANCISCO - San Francisco Supervisor Bilal Mahmood has requested a hearing to investigate the private prison corporation operating a reentry facility at 111 Taylor Street, following the recent death of a city resident who had fled the facility, as well as growing concerns of neglect, abuse, and civil rights violations.
The facility, located in the Tenderloin, is operated by GEO Group, a multi-billion dollar private prison company, which has billions of dollars in contracts with Immigration and Customs Enforcement to operate facilities across the country.
"It's heartbreaking to hear what the Bulauan family has experienced — no child should have to lose a parent under such circumstances," Mahmood said in a press release. "It takes great courage and strength to turn pain into action, and in honor of Melvin and all the residents at 111 Taylor, I am calling for a hearing to get to the bottom of GEO Group's reported negligence and escalating civil rights violations in San Francisco."
The hearing will subpoena representatives from the corporation to testify before the San Francisco Board of Supervisors and answer questions about living conditions at its Tenderloin property, as well as reports of civil rights violation and their interactions with the federal government in their detention of immigrants amidst increasing ICE raids.
"Inhuman conditions"
What they're saying:
Mahmood called for a hearing following the death of Melvin Bulauan, who reported receiving calls from their father, who stated he would "rather be back in prison" that at the facility. Bulauan's body was found in the streets of the Tenderloin and his children, upon identifying his body, contacted his parole officer at GEO Group, who reported they had no knowledge he had left 111 Taylor Street.
"As former foster youth, we spent our lives watching our dad cycle through incarceration and untreated addiction in this city. We know he is one of many. His death is not an isolated tragedy, but part of a larger pattern of institutional failure," Anjru Jaezon de Leon, Bulauan's son said in a press release. "We do not want our father's death to go unnoticed. We are seeking truth, accountability, and allies, especially those willing to speak about the harmful conditions in and around 111 Taylor Street and help us demand better for families like ours."
Bulauan's family has started a GoFundMe to pay for his funeral. As of Tuesday morning, the page was nearing its $28,000 goal, with just over $24,000 raised.
The news of Bulauan's death came just one day after a San Francisco Board of Appeals meeting at which over 60 community members spoke out against conditions at the facility, which they described as inhumane and "prison-like." That meeting was convened to review GEO Group's Letter of Determination to operate at 111 Taylor Street. The Board upheld the corporation's use of the property, citing current Planning Department definitions.
Historical significance
The backstory:
GEO Group's use of the property, especially in light of its contracts with ICE, has been highly controversial due to the historical significance of 111 Taylor Street to the queer community.
That property was the site of the 1966 Compton's Cafeteria Riot, one of the first LGBTQ-related riots in the United States, which resulted from repeated harassment of transgender patrons of the business by the San Francisco Police Department.
GEO Group acquired the property in 1989 and has operated it as a halfway house since then.
There is an effort to reclaim the building, spearheaded by Compton's x Coalition.
"The fight to liberate 111 Taylor — Compton's — is not a monolith. This is about more than reclaiming a sacred space for San Francisco's trans and queer community; it's about justice for everyone who has been incarcerated, brutalized, and killed by GEO Group. We demand accountability, we demand an end to these inhumane conditions, and we demand the city take action," Santana Tapia, Compton's x Coalition's spokesperson said in a press release.
The GEO Group hearing will take place this fall at the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, with a date yet to be determined. Multiple groups, including Compton's x Coalition, the Public Defender's Office, Adult Probation Department, and the California Department of Corrections & Rehabilitation have been requested to be present to provide expert testimony.