( KRON ) – Over the past month, two San Francisco County jails were locked down due to increasing assaults on deputies by inmates at the facilities. Since March 29, nine jail staff members have been assaulted by incarcerated individuals, the San Francisco Sheriff’s Office said.
According to a recent survey released by the San Francisco Sheriff’s Association, the union that oversees deputy sheriffs as employees, officers are not only seeing an increase in physical assaults but also a decrease in quality of life as a whole.
On average, employees reported receiving five hours of sleep per night, with nearly 50% reporting falling asleep at the wheel. The survey also states that 74% experienced depressive symptoms and half experienced anxiety – almost double that of an average jail staff, the survey stated.
“I think that we have many medical conditions that are presumptive in our positions,” San Francisco Sheriff Paul Miyamoto told KRON4 in response to the survey. “We deal with traumas every day. They’re all part of the job of being in law enforcement and being a deputy sheriff.”