Weeks Later, Death of Young Black Woman in SF Jail Remains Shrouded in Mystery

Updated 11:28 a.m. Wednesday

Weeks after a young Black woman died in San Francisco County Jail with little official word about what happened, her family members and advocates are still seeking answers.

Aamonte Hadley, 22, had been locked up awaiting trial for nearly two years when she was found dead on Sept. 3. Her death puts the spotlight on concerns over jail overcrowding and drops in referrals to mental health diversion programs, and comes as District Attorney Brooke Jenkins’ approach is being put to the test amid her reelection campaign.

The San Francisco Department of Police Accountability, the Medical Examiner’s Office and the Criminal Investigations Unit of the Sheriff’s Office are investigating Hadley’s death. But her family said they have not received any details.

“Nothing, nothing. They didn’t tell me anything. I still don’t know,” Adimika Blockman, Hadley’s mother, said at a rally joined by more than a dozen other relatives and supporters outside the San Francisco Women’s Jail on Tuesday.

They pointed to Hadley’s death in calling for Jenkins to seek out more alternatives to jail, such as mental health diversion programs. Hadley, who faced charges in connection with a string of robberies but had not been convicted, struggled with mental health challenges, according to her attorney and family members who sought treatment for her while in jail. The court ultimately denied their requests for mental health diversion.

“Ms. Hadley was charged with serious crimes, which were held to answer by the court. She was detained pretrial because of the public safety risk she posed,” Jenkins said in a written statement. “The court denied defense counsel’s numerous requests for mental health diversion because it was not warranted in this case.”

Richard Shikman, an attorney who represented Hadley, said she expressed remorse for what she had done and described her as “the poster child for compassionate treatment in jail.”

“We tried mightily for practically two years to get her mental health diversion, but it fell almost on deaf ears. She was calling out, begging for treatment, but they denied it,” Shikman said. “The expressed mental health diversion statute in the state is to have treatment, especially for a young person, and she had no criminal record.”

Jenkins called Hadley’s death “tragic and alarming” but further said in her statement that if the defense had “prepared to settle or go to trial sooner, the tragedy may have been avoided.”

Speakers at Tuesday’s rally took offense to the suggestion that settling may have saved Hadley, and they called on the district attorney to do more to provide actual treatment and mental health diversion.

The majority of people who are in county jails in California have mental health challenges, according to the Public Policy Institute of California.

Convictions increased while referrals to diversion programs have decreased under Jenkins’ tenure, Mission Local reports. At the same time, the city is struggling with overcrowding in jails, which advocates and attorneys on Tuesday said has fueled physically and mentally unsafe conditions.

“Those decisions matter when a district attorney or the courts make a decision to not let someone go to mental health diversion to get the treatment they need to move their life in a proper direction. It matters,” Public Defender Mano Raju said. “The consequences are devastating in so many ways.”

Raju and Shikman said they have seen larger caseloads, packed jails and slower movement in the courts as the pace of filings has picked up, setting up tragic outcomes for people like Hadley and her family.

Jenkins stood by her office’s approach and charges in Hadley’s case.

“My office is committed to fair and ethical prosecutions. We charge cases based on the facts, evidence and the law,” she said. “We do not overcharge cases and any assertions to the contrary are baseless.”

Jenkins’ sole opponent running for San Francisco district attorney this November, Ryan Khojasteh, said he hopes to restore levels of pretrial diversion for low-level and first-time offenses “so we can focus on prosecuting serious, violent and repeat crimes and take those to trial.”

“Two years for a case not to go to a trial or a resolution is not a responsible way for the criminal justice system to happen,” Khojasteh said. “Those referrals are proven to work. It’s a way to manage the criminal justice system so we aren’t exacerbating caseloads and the backlog of criminal cases at the Hall of Justice.”

On Tuesday, workers at San Francisco’s Superior Court also rallied outside the Hall of Justice to call out the city’s backlogged cases and resulting wait times that they said have caused people to languish in jail without access to their constitutional right to a speedy trial.

“Trying to get through the backlog without enough time or staffing leads to simple errors that cause real-world problems,” Robert Borders, a courtroom clerk in the Criminal Division, said in a statement. “A small mistake on paper can turn into a living nightmare for someone stuck in a jail cell waiting for their day in court.”

Friends and family described Hadley as a member of the LGBTQ community, a joyful young woman who prayed regularly, and someone who loved animals and wanted to one day be a veterinarian.

“She was my baby, and I knew she was the one person in the world that loved me the most,” Blockman said.

Sept. 18: A previous version of this story said attorneys have seen an increased pace of convictions leading to tragic outcomes for people like Hadley and her family. The public defender’s office clarified that the pace of filings, not conviction outcomes, is causing issues.