Nine women held in San Francisco's County Jail No. 2 have sued the city over what they call "dirty" and "unhealthy" conditions — no outdoor access, chronic plumbing failures and a starch-heavy diet — nearly two years after a federal judge ordered the city to give its long-term detainees daily sunlight.

The class-action complaint, filed June 9 in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, is the second lawsuit in a month to accuse the Sheriff's Office of mistreating women at the South of Market jail. Its sharpest claim is one of continuity: the same attorney who won a 2023 federal order requiring San Francisco to provide incarcerated people at least 15 minutes of daily sunlight now says the women's jail — which has no yard at all — still denies it. The suit reframes a single-incident scandal as a structural, and allegedly court-defying, pattern.

Nine women incarcerated at San Francisco County Jail No. 2 on Seventh Street filed a federal class-action lawsuit on June 9 against the city, the Sheriff's Office and officials responsible for jail health services, alleging conditions that violate both the U.S. and California constitutions, according to reporting by Mission Local and KALW and a separate account by ABC7.

The complaint describes a facility where women are "never permitted outdoor access" because, unlike the men's County Jail No. 3 in San Bruno, the SoMa building has no yard, Mission Local reported. The women allege chronic plumbing malfunctions, an insect infestation, inadequate hot water and a largely starch-based diet they say left them with sleep problems, weight gain and digestive issues. Jail Health Services, the complaint contends, "merely hands out pills" rather than addressing inmates' underlying medical needs.

"Even in jail, women are second-class citizens with fewer rights than men," civil rights attorney Yolanda Huang wrote in a statement quoted by Mission Local. Her complaint argues women endure "fewer privileges, less access to fewer jail jobs," and — until recently — overcrowding and a near-total lack of programming compared with male detainees.

What separates this filing from the strip-search class action 20 other women brought in May is its claim of a broken court order. Huang also litigated Norbert v. City and County of San Francisco (No. 3:19-cv-02724), in which U.S. Magistrate Judge Sallie Kim ruled in October 2023 that San Francisco must give anyone jailed longer than a year at least 15 minutes of direct sunlight per day, according to the federal court docket compiled by the University of Michigan's Civil Rights Litigation Clearinghouse. The court found the city had been "recklessly indifferent" to sunlight deprivation. Mission Local independently reported the existence and terms of that 2023 ruling.

The new complaint quotes its own theory of harm directly: "The deprivation of outdoor light and sunlight, combined with constant exposure to artificial interior lighting, causes inmates to suffer harm to their circadian rhythms and a range of associated health conditions."

If the allegations hold up, the case raises an uncomfortable question for the city — whether a population the Norbert order was meant to protect has been left out of it because the building that houses them was never designed to comply. County Jail No. 2 opened in 1994 without an outdoor recreation area, and women cannot be transferred to the larger San Bruno facility, both Mission Local and KALW reported.

The city has not answered the allegations in court. "Once we are served with the lawsuit, we will review the complaint and respond in court," Jen Kwart, a spokesperson for the City Attorney's Office, said in a statement to Mission Local. The Sheriff's Office said last month it was reviewing "services and resources available to female inmates" to "identify opportunities to expand access to supportive programming and city services."

The dispute lands amid wider scrutiny of the department: in March, Supervisor Jackie Fielder called for a full audit of the Sheriff's Office, citing the strip-search allegations among other concerns. The women are seeking damages and a jury trial. Whether their claims are proven remains for the court to decide — but the suit asks the city to explain why, two years after a judge ordered sunlight, some of its detainees still say they never see it.