San Francisco Supervisor Bilal Mahmood is calling for a hearing into a private prison corporation that operates a local reentry facility at the center of a dispute between transgender rights activists and the corporation after the death of one of its residents.
Mahmood said Tuesday he wants to get to the bottom of the alleged “negligence and civil rights violations” at the 111 Taylor St. facility, the site of a historic 1966 riot in response to police violence against trans people.
The site is now a reentry facility that helps transition previously incarcerated people into the community and is operated by GEO Group.
The multi-billion-dollar corporation, which also operates Immigration and Customs Enforcement facilities, is one of the largest in the industry across the country and has been accused of having poor conditions in their facilities.
“Given the alarming concerns raised by residents, the purpose of this hearing will be to ask questions regarding living conditions at the facility and investigate reports of civil rights violations,” Mahmood said at the Board of Supervisors meeting on Tuesday.
A father’s final words
At the meeting, the family of Melvin Bulauan, a resident of the facility, described how they had learned of his death just days before on July 14.
“His final words will haunt me forever,” said Anjru Jaezon de Leon, Bulauan’s eldest child, recalling a July 13 conversation with his father. “’I’m anxious,’ he said. ‘I’m scared,’ he said. ‘I’d rather go back to jail than stay here.’”
At the meeting, de Leon said he called the facility three times for a wellness check and someone allegedly hung up on him three times before he was able to “complete a sentence” at around 3:30 a.m..
“The next day my dad was found dead on the pavement … one block away from (111 Taylor St.),” de Leon said at the meeting.
Bulauan’s parole officer at GEO Group was allegedly unaware he left the facility, de Leon said in a statement.
GEO Group spokesperson Monica Hook said company officials, “like everyone else, regret hearing the news of someone losing their life.”
Hook said Bulauan left the Taylor Street site “without authorization” on July 13 and “was appropriately reported to the supervising agency.” After being reported, Bulauan was discharged from the facility, she said in a statement.
The site is a community-based program, so Hook said individuals can leave to look for work or receive services elsewhere, “with the expectation that they will return.”
Hook said they were notified of Bulauan’s death on July 15.
Under scrutiny
Notifications of Bulauan’s death came days before trans activists were dealt a blow in their effort to reclaim the site at a hearing at the city’s Board of Appeals on July 16. The board is a “quasi-judicial” body that has the final administrative review authority for several types of appeals related to city determinations, according to its webpage.
Activists at the July 16 hearing claimed a letter of determination issued to the company by the Planning Department, which classifies the site’s use as group housing, was wrong because the facility allegedly restricted freedoms.
Zoning Administrator Corey Teague said at that hearing that the letter was not a requirement for the facility to use the space. But the denial of the letter could have set the stage for activists to take over the site because the corporation said it uses the letter to renew contracts with the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation and the Federal Bureau of Prisons.
“Given the alarming concerns raised by residents, the purpose of this hearing will be to ask questions regarding living conditions at the facility and investigate reports of civil rights violations.” Supervisor Bilal Mahmood
The board denied the activists’ appeal.
Mahmood said in a statement the hearing is the first the corporation will face in front of supervisors about the conditions of the facility.
The hearing will take place this fall, with leaders from Compton’s x Coalition, a group of activists trying to reclaim the site, the Public Defender’s office, the Adult Probation Department and CDCR requested to be present, according to Mahmood.