It\u2019s a lockup with an open-door policy. <\/p>\n
A new detention center in San Francisco designed to hold recently arrested drug users<\/a> allows detainees to simply walk out if they please.<\/p>\n The downtown center, which has been pitched as an alternative to jails or hospitals, provides officers a place to take publicly intoxicated people to sober up and access addiction treatment.\u00a0<\/p>\n The downtown center, which has been pitched as an alternative to jails or hospitals, provides officers a place to take publicly intoxicated people to sober up and access addiction treatment.\u00a0 Anadolu via Getty Images<\/p>\n The facility is meant to keep users off the streets while allowing police to return to their patrols, relieving them of lengthy paperwork required at jail intake.\u00a0<\/p>\n But once inside, detainees are free to leave. <\/p>\n \u201cTechnically, they can walk out,\u201d Rani Singh, chief legal counsel for the San Francisco Sheriff\u2019s Office, told the San Francisco Standard<\/a>. \u201cThere are no locked doors.\u201d<\/p>\n She added that while no one will be held against their will, \u201cyou can create an environment where, hopefully, they don\u2019t want to leave.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n The center at 444 Sixth St. in downtown San Francisco. Google Maps<\/p>\n The facility is meant to keep users off the streets while allowing police to return to their patrols, relieving them of lengthy paperwork required at jail intake.\u00a0 AP<\/p>\n Mayor Daniel Lurie hailed the center ahead of its Monday opening.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a new model that allows police officers to quickly arrest those engaged in public drug use and bring them to a health-focused facility where they can sober up and have a chance to be connected to treatment,\u201d he said in an Instagram post<\/a>.<\/p>\n The facility also gives users access to showers and even reclining chairs, the Standard reported.<\/p>\n San Francisco County Sheriff Paul Miyamoto made it clear at a press conference that the center is not a \u201cvoluntary\u201d intake and is \u201cintended to keep people out of jail.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cBut it\u2019s not a \u2018get out of jail free\u2019 card, because there are consequences to being publicly intoxicated and being taken in,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Those hauled in to the center can stay for up to 23 hours, but officials said they expect the average stay to be less than eight hours.<\/p>\n Mayor Daniel Lurie hailed the center ahead of its Monday opening. Anadolu via Getty Images<\/p>\n If a person tries to leave before sobering up, the sheriff\u2019s office said deputies on site can rearrest them.<\/p>\n \u201cWhile the facility is not physically locked, individuals are detained until they are able to care for themselves and appropriate for release,\u201d the sheriff\u2019s office told the Standard.<\/p>\n \u201cIf someone chooses to leave, they may be subject to rearrest and booked at the county jail.\u201d<\/p>\n The city has created confusion after saying in January that users at the center \u201cwill be transported by law enforcement after being placed under arrest for public intoxication.\u201d<\/p>\n However, Singh said Friday that detainees are not actually being arrested.<\/p>\n The city created confusion after previously saying that users at the center \u201cwill be transported by law enforcement after being placed under arrest for public intoxication.\u201d Anadolu Agency via Getty Images<\/p>\n \u201cWe actually have probable cause to arrest [but] we\u2019re not arresting them,\u201d he told Mission Local.<\/a><\/p>\n San Francisco continues to grapple with a staggering number of fatal drug overdoses<\/a>. The latest Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data ranked it the second-worst in the US, trailing only Baltimore.<\/p>\n Even as the opioid crisis drags on<\/a>, federal figures show a modest shift: Overall overdose deaths in San Francisco have begun to decline. In 2025, fatalities fell to their lowest level in five years. Still, the city remains near the top nationally in per-capita overdose deaths<\/a>.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t