Incarcerated women in San Francisco County Jail say sheriff’s deputies recorded them during mass strip-search

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) — A group of women say San Francisco sheriff’s deputies took humiliating video of them during a mass jail strip-search on May 22, 2025.

At least 19 women are accusing San Francisco sheriff’s deputies of subjecting them to a mass strip-search inside the B-Pod of the San Francisco County Jail.

“This has been happening over again on the inside. So we’re just here to say that we believe you and support you,” said Julia Arroyo, Executive Director of Young Women’s Freedom Center.

During a rally outside the jail, the city’s public defender commended the women for coming forward. His office filed a complaint against the deputies involved pointing to violations of policies – among them having men present during searches and failing to conduct searches in private areas.

“The mass strip-search and the harassment that continue afterwards is unacceptable and unjust,” said San Francisco Public Defender, Manohar Raju.

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Several women are being represented by a private firm. Their attorney said they described armed guards pointing guns while searching them.

“During the strip-search, there was body-worn camera footage that was turned on. At least one of the women know that there was a younger deputy who tried to speak up and said, ‘shouldn’t we have our cameras off?’ And they were directed, ‘no keep the camera on,'” said Elizabeth Bertolino with Bertolino Law.

We looked into the San Francisco sheriff’s Custody and Court Operations Policy manual. It states portable recorders should be “activated any time” a deputy believes it’s valuable “except for strip searches.” Bertolino said her clients reported at least 15 male deputies in the room watching them.

“There was a couple women who said they reached out to try to have the body-worn camera footage of them erased, and they were, told, don’t worry if we upload it to YouTube or something, we’ll have it blurred,” said Bertolino.

The city’s executive director of the Department on the Status of Women said they are planning to tour the facility.

“We need to be able to really first look at more of the details in a transparent way and we need to be able to investigate and continue making sure that we hear all the voices and all the claims that come forward,” said Diana Aroche, Executive director of SF’s Department on the Status of Women.

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Tanzanika Carter, SF’s Assistant Sheriff, responded to the allegations.

“We understand the allegations that a mass strip-search happened, but we know women were individually searched by female deputies in single person stalls. We want to acknowledge the women who came forward every complain raised within our facilities is taken seriously,” said Assist Chief. Carter.

Assistant Sheriff Carter said personnel actions were taken but did not elaborate on what those actions were.

The private attorney representing the women in this case said the city has 45 days to respond to their claim.

“We want some of those individuals fired like we there’s particularly a couple individuals who I believe are going to come to light and we want them fired. We want others held accountable. We want policies in place,” said Attorney Bartolino.

If the city rejects the claim or doesn’t respond, there will be a state or federal lawsuit filed against the city of San Francisco that will include compensation for the women.