As she walked through the glass double doors of the San Francisco Superior Court building on Polk Street, Ann Keith clutched a letter she hoped would save her son.
At 35, Connor Keith was homeless, battling fentanyl addiction and struggling to understand what was real and what was not. Invisible bugs crawled on his skin. Electrical outlets threatened to shock him in his sleep. A few days before, a friend had sent Ann a photo of Connor lying on a sidewalk, barefoot and wrapped in a blanket.
Ann hoped the letter, describing her son’s treatment a decade earlier for schizophrenia, could help get him into CARE Court, Gov. Gavin Newsom’s signature effort to help people with severe mental illness languishing on California streets…