Published Aug. 11, 2026at6:00am
In three months, the 50-year-old San Francisco Pretrial Diversion Project will be no more.
The longstanding nonprofit charged with ensuring criminal defendants released from jail return to court will shut down in November, its board announced last week. With a replacement likely not up and running for months, its closure may create a vacuum that some legal experts believe will lead to deteriorating street conditions.
For the past year, the embattled SF Pretrial has been fighting for its life after the San Francisco Superior Court’s leadership pushed to end the nonprofit’s contract with the city following a financial mismanagement scandal. The organization rectified those problems, but the damage was already done.
In July, Mayor Daniel Lurie sided with the courts and all but guaranteed SF Pretrial’s death, according to interim CEO Matt Miller. The mayor’s budget awarded the nonprofit a shortened, one-year contract, allowing the court-managed Adult Probation Department to take over in July 2027.
A last-ditch effort to reach a compromise that included the resignation of the nonprofit’s longtime head and offering new oversight powers to Adult Probation failed, leading many staffers to start looking for new jobs.