SF Supervisors Press Geo Group, Halfway House Operator, About July Death of Resident

A San Francisco supervisor vowed to continue pressing for answers at a City Hall hearing on Thursday, where representatives from Geo Group and a halfway house operated by the global private prison company repeatedly refused to discuss the July death of a resident. 

Supervisor Bilal Mahmood said he has “deep concerns about health, safety and civil rights at 111 Taylor,” in reference to the reentry facility with varying levels of restriction for people awaiting trial and those released on parole in both the federal and state criminal justice systems.

Melvin Bulauan, 44, was transferred to the facility in early July from a secure state psychiatric hospital in Atascadero, according to his family and reporting by Mission Local. Before that, he had served part of a state prison sentence at San Quentin stemming from his attack on a pedestrian in July 2023 and other previous violent assaults.

Bulauan’s family members, who spoke at the hearing, said he struggled for decades with substance use and lived with bipolar disorder, depression and schizophrenia. Bulauan’s son, Anjru Jaezon de Leon, said he’d asked Atascadero officials not to release his father to the facility in San Francisco’s Tenderloin, arguing that his father wasn’t ready for the change.

“I advocated, and my sister advocated that it would be in his best interest not to be in San Francisco,” Bulauan’s son said. “And those concerns were ultimately cast aside.”

Bulauan’s son said he last spoke with his father on the phone on July 13, just a few days after Bulauan had been transferred to a halfway house at 111 Taylor.

“‘I’m anxious,’” Bulauan’s son remembers his father saying. “‘I’m scared. I’d rather go back to jail than stay here.’”

“He sounded like a man cornered, like someone drowning. I called the facility three times, begging for a wellness check, and three times they hung up on me before I could even complete a sentence.”

The next morning, Bulauan was found dead on the sidewalk near the building, his son said.

“He died alone on the pavement, a block from where he said he was too afraid to sleep.”

Bulauan’s mother, Amelia Miguel, spoke to the Board of Supervisors’ committee through tears.

“He was to be safe when he was there,” she said, sobbing. “But it’s not, it’s not, it’s not, it’s not.”

Geo Group, which is also a contractor for Immigration and Customs Enforcement facilities, purchased the building at the corner of Turk and Taylor streets in 1989. The company’s website said the site’s mission is to “help prepare individuals to reintegrate back to society,” through “placements” from six months to one year.

Representatives from federal probation and pretrial departments at the hearing said repeatedly that many of the defendants and parolees that they oversee would be incarcerated if not for the option of a supervised community facility, only offered by the Taylor Street Center in this region.

“It’s not perfect, but it provides us a secure place for people to come back to our communities, for them to become employed, for them to become citizens that can provide positive things to our community,” said Chief Probation Officer Chris Carrubba-Katz. “Taylor Street epitomizes the spirit of San Francisco of inclusivity, and it provides housing to people convicted of crimes where they are not welcome and they are safe in other cities.”

Representatives from Geo Group and the Taylor Street Center repeatedly refused to answer Mahmood’s questions about Bulauan’s death.

“We’re not able to comment on the specifics of an individual case,” Mollyrose Graves, Geo-rentry Services partnership development director, said in response to Mahmood. “If you have a question around general policy or procedures, we’d be happy to answer.”

Geo Group has been criticized over poor conditions and neglect at the facility at 111 Taylor St., which holds a place in LGBTQ+ history as the site of a 1966 riot for trans rights.

“We have testimony from former residents that they’ve been locked out, denied mental health support, forced to live without kitchen access, and punished for breaking curfew, not to mention complaints of overcrowding, poor living conditions of the facility,” Supervisor Jackie Fielder said.

Facility director Maria Richard told supervisors that the center has been “extremely responsive” to issues with rodents and cockroaches.

Days before Balauan’s death, a group of San Francisco activists began an effort to oust Geo Group from 111 Taylor St., the historic site of Compton’s Cafeteria, and turn it into a community center.

Janetta Johnson, co-founder of the Transgender District and an advocate for incarcerated trans people, laid out a different vision for the building on Thursday: “Studio apartments and one-bedroom apartments for people with mental health issues, with mental health providers on staff, not a prison.”

Mahmood indicated that the center could be challenged under a state law prohibiting private, for-profit prisons from being operated in the state. That law recently suffered a setback before the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals as it applies to immigration detention in a case brought by Geo Group and the federal government. He also pointed out that modern rules for group housing in San Francisco require access to a full kitchen, which the Taylor Street Center does not offer.

“My goal moving forward is to ensure that no facility, public or private, operating under the banner of reentry or rehabilitation functions as a de facto detention center without proper oversight, accountability and respect for human dignity,” Mahmood said.