A member of two key oversight bodies in San Francisco’s criminal justice system has been arrested on suspicion of a slate of felony sexual assault allegations, records show.
William Monroe “Tariq” Palmer II — whose story of redemption after three decades in prison led to media coverage and his emergence as an advocate — is accused of assault with force likely to commit great bodily injury, assault with intent to commit a felony, sexual battery by restraint, sodomy by use of force and false imprisonment.
The alleged incident took place in late August, according to two law enforcement officials familiar with the case who requested anonymity. Investigators believe Palmer offered a ride to a woman who was walking to a BART station, took the woman to his home and assaulted her.
He was booked into San Francisco jail at 10:33 a.m. Thursday and is being held without bail.
Palmer was arrested on a warrant from the district attorney’s office, and his first court appearance is set for Monday, said Randy Quezada, a spokesperson for the agency.
Palmer was 17 when he was sentenced to life in prison after accosting an off-duty police officer at gunpoint and demanding money. When the man told him he didn’t have any cash on him, Palmer took him — in the man’s car — to an ATM at gunpoint, where the off-duty officer withdrew $200. When they returned to the car, the officer retrieved his gun and shot Palmer in the knee.
Palmer ran away but was soon arrested.
Palmer makes a pitch to a panel for funding of his art career while incarcerated at Solano State Prison in Vacaville in December 2015.
Michael Macor/The Chronicle 2015In prison, Palmer earned his GED and an associate’s degree. He studied art and took up painting. He painted murals and, after his release, in a pod at the San Francisco County Jail.
His requests for parole were denied repeatedly over 20 years, and ultimately he challenged his continued detention. When Palmer’s lawyers argued for his release decades later, they acknowledged that he “was reckless and impulsive and created a dangerous situation.” His sentence, however, was “constitutionally disproportionate,” they said.
The California Supreme Court ruled that his 23 years of incarceration were excessive.
He was released in March 2019 and was on parole at the time of his arrest Thursday.
His experiences — both during and after his incarceration — drew significant media attention, from the Marshall Project and the Washington Post, which looked at the challenges former prisoners face while on parole. And he was featured in the Chronicle for his efforts to stop generational cycles of incarceration.
After his release in 2019, Palmer immersed himself in civic life. He worked with an organization providing legal services to prisoners with children. On his LinkedIn page, he listed jobs with a Black-owned newspaper and a nonprofit to help “formerly incarcerated, at-risk youth, and system impacted individuals” find their footing back in society. He also hosts a local radio show.
The reentry council appointed him to sit on the Sentencing Commission, which advises the mayor and Board of Supervisors on strategies “to improve public safety, reduce recidivism, and reform criminal sentencing.”
Palmer’s bio on the oversight board’s website says that after leaving prison, he “immediately assumed the position as a leader by advocating for social reforms, and mentoring youth.” It also noted he “had his own challenges with reentry.”
The Post story detailed Palmer’s efforts to rebuild his life, highlighting his work with the Returned Citizens Theatre Troupe, a collective of former prisoners turned thespians. The story also chronicled his struggle with parole since his release, describing several encounters where he was jailed for violating terms of his parole, including one in which a fender bender in May 2020 led to an arrest. Court records show he was arrested in September of that year on another parole violation but further details were not immediately available.
Voters approved a charter amendment creating the oversight board in 2020. It consists of seven members, four appointed by the Board of Supervisors and three by the mayor’s office.
In 2021, members of the San Francisco Jail Justice Coalition — including Glide, the San Francisco Public Defender’s Office and the Young Women’s Freedom Center, urged Supervisor Shamann Walton to support his application to the oversight board, saying he had “been instrumental in moving our jail system towards more just and fair outcomes for incarcerated people and their families.”
On his 2021 application to join the sheriff’s oversight board, Palmer said he is passionate about justice and equity in sentencing, adding that he would bring an essential perspective to the board because of his experience as a youth offender who’d received an unconstitutionally long sentence.
“My period of incarceration has prepared me for my purpose in life,” he wrote, “to reform the criminal justice system with fair sentencing for juveniles, adults and life term inmates while maintaining public safety and justice.“
In July 2021, Walton submitted the names of Palmer and three others to the supervisors’ Rules Committee, which forwarded them to the full board.
Supervisors then appointed Palmer in 2021 to fill a seat. His term expired this year, and he was reappointed for a full four-year term.
Upon hearing of the arrest, Supervisor Aaron Peskin said Saturday he’d written to Palmer and asked him to resign from the sheriff’s oversight board “effective immediately.”
“Otherwise I’ll have to go through the process of removing him,” he said.
Reach St. John Barned-Smith: stjohn.smith@sfchronicle.com
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