By Robert J. Hansen | OBSERVER Staff Writer
Sacramento County Sheriff Jim Cooper and several deputies forced mutual aid volunteers to leave the downtown jail Aug. 27, telling them they were trespassing.
The volunteers with Decarcerate Sacramento and the Anti Police-Terror Project have facilitated a monthly jail support program for more than five years. The grassroots effort provides basic resources such as food, water, clothing, and transportation for people released from the county’s main jail, as well as support for their family members waiting outside.
This is the first time since the program’s inception that deputies have ordered Decarcerate Sacramento and Anti-Police Terror Project members to leave the site.
Cooper told volunteers, “I’m the boss and I’m not going to argue about this,” according to Christopher Camilo-Carbajal, program and campaign coordinator for Decarcerate Sacramento.
Sheriff’s spokesperson Amar Gandhi told The OBSERVER that Cooper did not force the volunteers to leave and that he told them only that they needed to not block the sidewalk.
The jail support program began in 2020 after Mays v. Sacramento County, a class-action lawsuit alleging inhumane conditions and inadequate medical and mental health care inside the jail system, was settled. Community advocates created the monthly support station in response, saying the county’s jails often release people in the middle of the night without adequate resources or support.
Volunteers said they were surprised by the sheriff’s move. Alexis Covey, who helps run the program, said the group always has been careful to avoid causing disruption. “It was surprising because we’ve been doing this for years, and we’ve never been told that it was violating any policy or law or even bothering them, or even bothering people,” Covey said.
She explained that volunteers typically greet people with food, clothing, and other basic supplies, often filling gaps when people are released in little more than what they were arrested in. Many are not dressed for the weather, particularly if they are taken into custody during the day and released late at night. Covey said about half of those released need items like jackets or socks. “A lot of times you’re picked up in the middle of the day, you’re in shorts and a T-shirt, and then at night it gets cold,” she said.
Covey added that many people leaving the jail appear to be returning to homelessness. The group offers a “soft landing” by providing transit passes, phone charging stations, and information about local shelters. “We feel like we’re doing a tiny little bit to help folks get a little bit more of a step on the way to entering the world,” she said. Volunteers often pay for supplies out of pocket. Covey said that on several occasions, she has spent between $70 and $100 a week on items for distribution.
According to guidance from the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California, sidewalks and plazas outside public buildings are generally considered public forums, meaning people have the right to be present and engage in peaceful activity as long as they are not blocking access or creating a disturbance. While law enforcement has discretion in the name of safety or security, the ACLU notes that being told to leave public property without a clear legal basis can make an arrest for trespassing subject to challenge. Volunteers said they were careful not to obstruct passage, and no citation or written notice was provided at the time they were ordered to leave.
Data shows that the need for jail support is significant. According to a Sacramento County grand jury report, the main jail processes an average of 136 releases daily, with about 50 occurring between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m. A 2023 survey by the Board of State and Community Corrections found that 27% of county inmate releases — about 565 people per month — occur overnight between 11 p.m. and 6 a.m., double the rate of other counties.
The population itself reflects stark disparities. Black residents make up about 39% of those incarcerated in Sacramento County jails, despite being only 11% of the county’s population. Mental health needs are widespread, with 62% of the jail population having documented mental health conditions and more than half experiencing serious mental illness, comorbidities, or substance use challenges.
Camilo-Carbajal, who also serves on the county’s public safety committee, said the sheriff’s actions reflect a larger pattern of abuse and neglect in the jail system. He pointed to federal court monitors’ findings in Mays v. Sacramento County that documented violations of constitutional rights, citing inadequate medical and mental health care, solitary confinement for people with serious mental illness, and preventable deaths inside the jails. He added that people routinely are released in the middle of the night without food, shelter, medication, or transportation.
“Our jail support program exists precisely because the Sheriff’s [Office] fails to meet these most basic needs. Instead of fixing these problems, Sheriff Cooper is targeting the very people who are filling the gaps his department leaves behind,” Camilo-Carbajal said.