SAVE THE PRETRIAL EXPANSION PROGRAM: SPEAK UP ON OCTOBER 22 

SAVE THE PRETRIAL EXPANSION PROGRAM: SPEAK UP ON OCTOBER 22 

Alameda County appears poised to close a program that’s reducing re-arrests in the pretrial population by connecting participants to dedicated case managers, emergency housing, and needed treatments.  Care First, Jails Last supporters and Building Opportunities for Self-Sufficiency (BOSS) are speaking up to save this important program. We need your help!  

Join us at the Board of Supervisors’ Public Protection Committee meeting   
When:  Thursday, October 22, start time 10:30 AM   

Where:  Alameda Co. Administration Bldg, 1221 Oak Street, Oakland, 5^th floor

To attend remotely: https://teams.microsoft.com/meet/237604917362156?p=XdzISyd3I13DDsb1OP

You can view the agenda here.  The Pretrial Program is not on the agenda, but supporters will be showing up with signs (like this flyer) and speaking up during the open public comment period at the close of the meeting. Expect public comments to start 12pm or later.

[Note: The second item on the agenda is the Sheriff’s annual military report. Please consider also speaking out against the Sheriff’s arsenal of dangerous scattershot munitions. Information and talking points can be found at the bottom of this email.]

If you’re attending remotely on a laptop, you can give a public comment by clicking on the “raise your hand”  button when you’re ready to speak. When it’s your turn to speak, you will be asked to unmute.

You don’t need to be an expert. Share why pretrial services matters to you, to someone you know, or to the safety of our community. 

Sample talking points – but try to use your own voice, speaking your values and personal experience

1. [State your name, Supervisorial district, your group/congregational affiliation]  I’m here to save our pretrial program. I want us to stop incarcerating people for the crime of being poor, homeless, Black, addicted, or mentally ill. So, I applaud BOSS for what it’s doing to help people on pretrial release improve the conditions of their lives, show up for scheduled court hearings, and avoid further encounters with law enforcement.  I understand that the program has already helped hundreds of people find emergency housing and enter treatment programs; and participants arrest rates are lower than expected for this population. What I don’t understand is the battle playing out in the media over a threatened power grab by Probation.  I implore you, Supervisors Marquez and Miley, to act now to save our Pretrial Expansion Program and let it continue in the hands of the dedicated team at BOSS.
2. [State your name, Supervisorial district, your group/congregational affiliation] I’m speaking in support of BOSS’s Pretrial Expansion Program. By all accounts, its case management model is meeting every measure of success, including lowering re-arrest rates and giving people real second chances.  This program should be a source of pride for our county. Your Board should be moving to renew and even expand its contract, as the BHAB’s committee on Care First Jails Last urged back in July. To allow the contract to expire in two months, or hand it over to the Probation Department really would be “bureaucratic insanity” (in Judge Markman’s words). Does anyone really think the Probation Department – an arm of law enforcement – could run a program like this, that depends so critically on trust?  The testimony you’re hearing here, in this compressed format, deserves to be heard at a full Board meeting, where all Supervisors are present and where the public has proper notice and can weigh in. If there’s a credible alternative program under consideration, that, too should be publically aired. This matter is too important to our communities to be decided by county politics and behind closed doors.
3. [State your name, Supervisorial district, your group/congregational affiliation]The Pretrial Expansion Program, operated by BOSS and supervised by the Court, appears to be a resounding success. In its first 6 months of operation, BOSS staff connected over 300 people on pretrial release to substance abuse treatment and 200 to housing.  The rearrest rate among moderate-risk participants dropped from 43% to 18%, preliminary evidence of reduced recidivism. Despite these impressive results, Chief Ford apparently believes a Probation-led program would do better. But advocates for Care First, Jails Last who’ve studied the matter say that Probation’s plan will cost millions more while serving many fewer folks in need. And between when the current program ends and Probation staff are hired, there will be discontinuity of care for hundreds of people now receiving services.  Your Board can stop this backslide from Care First, Jails Last.  Please, Supervisors Marquez and Miley, take action now towards extending the BOSS contract for another year. This will avoid discontinuity of services and allow time for a proper evaluation of the current program against viable alternatives.

More content for talking points:  Merle Lustig’s LTE, published in Mercury News Oct 6, 2026

        Shockingly the Alameda County Board of supervisors is considering ending a cost effective, humane, highly successful program to support people released from Santa Rita Jail. The Alameda County Pretrial Extension Program (PEP) provides services and support to individuals who have been released from Santa Rita jail to prevent them from being rearrested for committing another crime before their trial date. So, we at Faith in Action East Bay and our member congregations were extremely troubled to learn that County Supervisors are considering ending the program when the contract expires in December.

        Since February of this year, the non-profit Building Opportunities for Self-Sufficiency (BOSS) has been operating a Pretrial Expansion Program (PEP) in Alameda County serving people who’ve been arrested, charged, and released on “own recognizance.”  Alameda County Superior Court judges refer people to PEP who are deemed moderately likely to re-offend without needed support. The California’s Supreme Court has twice affirmed the constitutional right of pretrial release for anyone charged with a misdemeanor or a nonviolent or nonsexual felony.

        BOSS program staff provide dedicated case-management and service connections aimed at improving lives; services like housing, drug treatment, and mental health services. According to the Alameda County Superior Court, after just 6 months in operation, PEP has connected nearly 800 people to services, including 312 to outpatient SUD treatment and 208 to housing. And their efforts are reducing re-arrests and further system involvement.

        Despite these encouraging outcomes, several county agencies have withdrawn their support and intend to eliminate the program in December without explanation as to why, and to replace it with a program that is hastily planned and potentially much more costly. This timing does not give the Court and BOSS time to complete the 1-year program evaluation and confirm the savings that the Board of Supervisors specified as a basis for future funding.

        Why would the Board of Supervisors consider eliminating a program with excellent results and replacing it with a more costly, hastily planned program? Why not give the existing PEP funding through 2027 to complete the evaluation and determine the most effective, data driven ways to reduce rearrests and protect our community?

Learn more:

ICJJ Newsletter #18 September 2026

San Francisco Chronicle (Opinion): Alameda County should learn from San Francisco’s pretrial services mistake
San Francisco Chronicle: Alameda County pretrial services cut

Dispute erupts between Alameda County judges and probation officers over assistance program [possible paywall]

KTVU: Alameda County court links defendants with caseworkers to prevent recidivism
The Oaklandside: Pretrial service program results

Speak out against scattershot munitions

At the October 22 Public Protection meeting, please consider also making a comment to reject the sheriff’s arsenal of dangerous scattershot munitions, which shoot multiple projectiles indiscriminately. The sheriff has over 600 of these munitions, up from 125 last year. The UN Special Rapporteur on Torture, Physicians for Human Rights and Amnesty International have called for eliminating these from law enforcement. This will be the second item on the agenda. See the AFSC’s public comment toolkit: https://tinyurl.com/Oct22-scattershots-toolkit