As sheriff, John Robinson will aim to reduce disproportionate Black and Brown incarceration

 

The United States of America, the world’s leading and loudest exponent of civil liberties and human rights, is a nation which has 5 percent of the world’s population and, to its disgrace, 25 percent of the world’s prison population.

John-Robinson-web-200x300, As sheriff, John Robinson will aim to reduce disproportionate Black and Brown incarceration, Local News & Views
The Bay View endorses John Robinson for sheriff.

This astonishing fact illuminates an ugly inequity that is imbedded in the nation’s laws, courts, and criminal justice system that is quite visible for anyone to see – the alarming disproportionate percentage of African American and Hispanic men, women and youths who are incarcerated in the nation’s federal and state prisons, and in the nation’s county jails and youth detention centers. Michelle Alexander has called it “The New Jim Crow.”

Yes, San Francisco’s District Attorney’s Office, the city and county’s courts, the current sheriff and the other candidate for sheriff for the City and County of San Francisco have been quiet, active participants in the nation’s disingenuous maintenance of this American-bred human rights violation of its own professed concern about civil liberties and human rights.

The current campaign to elect a sheriff for the City and County of San Francisco can and must become San Francisco’s “eyes wide open” opportunity to review what it can do to identify and promulgate a new path for the City on how it will create quantifiable change in the San Francisco County Jail and Youth Detention Center’s disproportionate incarceration of African American and Hispanic men, women and youth.

John Robinson is the only candidate for sheriff who will, upon being elected:

  • Eliminate specific management deficiencies and restore pride in how the San Francisco County Sheriff’s Department is managed;
  • Provide leadership for the creation of a San Francisco Criminal Justice Task Force, composed of members of the San Francisco bar, elements of the federal, state, and county criminal justice system, the Public Defender’s Office and the San Francisco Board of Supervisors that would seek to identify laws and programs worthy of review and potential change that could, if enacted, quantifiably reduce the disproportionate percentage of African American and Hispanic men, women and youth who are incarcerated in the San Francisco County Jail and in Youth Detention Center;
  • Provide leadership in initiating development of an inter-agency program with the San Francisco Unified School District that reduces truancy and the incarceration of San Francisco youth;
  • Develop and provide an interagency template for how the Sheriff’s Department can increase an inmate’s job skill set as the primary component of a program to reduce recidivism of men and women who are incarcerated in the San Francisco County Jail and youth who are in the county’s Youth Detention Center.

Vote for John Robinson for Sheriff on Nov. 3, 2015!

San Francisco needs more than just a better custodian of the incarcerated.

Community leadership you can trust

John Robinson has a long history of service to the community of San Francisco. He has years of experience in law enforcement through the San Francisco Sheriff’s Department and has a proven record as a community leader and activist for the protection of civil liberties and public safety.

San-Francisco-County-Jail, As sheriff, John Robinson will aim to reduce disproportionate Black and Brown incarceration, Local News & Views
While Blacks in San Francisco have drastically declined to a mere 3-6 percent of the population, Blacks are 56 percent of the population of San Francisco County Jail, shown here.

John Robinson, the oldest of 11 children, has lived in San Francisco for 65 years. His family has been residing in the Haight Ashbury district since 1955.

Mr. Robinson was 17 years old when he began working on the docks of San Francisco, in the spice and coffee warehouses, while attending college. In 1971, John Robinson began working at San Quentin Prison as a correctional officer, the first of many positions held in law enforcement. From San Quentin, Mr. Robinson was transferred to the Parole Division, where he supervised an active caseload.

In 1974, John Robinson was hired by the San Francisco Sheriff’s Department as a deputy and rose quickly through the ranks, ultimately serving in every facet of the department. Very early on in his career he was the administrative assistant to Sheriff Richard Hongisto, later becoming a background clearance and training officer.

Additionally, Mr. Robinson’s service in the Sheriff’s Department included serving in both the Civil and Criminal Court Division and as operational commander for the Emergency Service Unit. Mr. Robinson was promoted to sergeant in 1976 and then to sheriff’s lieutenant in 1982, acquiring over 2,200 hours in management training over the years.

John Robinson’s service to the Sheriff’s Department earned him numerous awards, including a Certificate of Honor from the Board of Supervisors, for his outstanding work as the inter-perimeter mass arrest commander during the 1984 Democratic Convention. He was also named supervisor of the year for demonstrating qualities of humanitarianism, fairness and exceptional judgment. Mr. Robinson retired from the San Francisco Sheriff’s Department in 1994.

Presently, John Robinson is owner and operator of Inter-State Security Inc., a privately owned security company that currently employs 33 people. Mr. Robinson says, “Deeds not words” are what is needed to positively boost morale, opening lines of communication, strengthening leadership, taking responsibility for the actions of the Sheriff’s Department and its employees. Mr. Robinson believes doing these things will gain the confidence of the community, and he has stated, “We can certainly protect civil liberties while protecting public safety.”

Vote for John Robinson for Sheriff on Nov. 3, 2015!