The United States District Court for the Northern District of California is pleased to announce the selection of Amaryllis Austin as the next Chief U.S. Pretrial Services Officer. She will begin her tenure as chief on November 1, 2026, following the retirement of current chief, Silvio Lugo.
A native of Puerto Rico, Amaryllis began her federal judiciary career with the Northern District of California Pretrial Services Agency in 2009 as an Officer Assistant and was promoted to U.S. Pretrial Services Officer the following year. In 2013, she joined the Eastern District of California, where she later served as a Location Monitoring Specialist.
In 2016, Amaryllis was selected for the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts’ Director’s Leadership Fellow Program, where she conducted research examining the effect of the statutory presumption of detention on lower-risk pretrial defendants. Her work received the endorsement of the Judicial Conference Committee on Criminal Law and contributed to efforts to pursue legislative changes to better align federal detention practices with evidence-based principles.
From 2017 through 2023, Amaryllis served as a Probation Administrator with the Probation and Pretrial Services Office at the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts, helping oversee the national pretrial services program. During her tenure, she conducted and co-authored research on pretrial practices, provided technical assistance to districts throughout the country, and helped develop the Administrative Office’s Detention Reduction Outreach Program (DROP), an initiative designed to engage federal judges and other district stakeholders in examining detention and release practices.
Following a brief tenure as a supervisor with the District of Minnesota, Amaryllis returned to the Northern District of California in 2024 as Deputy Chief U.S. Pretrial Services Officer, where she has continued to advance evidence-informed practices, organizational development, and pretrial outcomes throughout the District.
Amaryllis holds a Bachelor of Arts in Government, with minors in Law and Society and Latin American Studies, from Cornell University and a Master of Advanced Studies in Criminology from the University of California, Irvine.
The Court is particularly pleased that Amaryllis’s selection brings her professional journey full circle—from beginning her judiciary career in the Northern District as an Officer Assistant to now being selected to lead the Agency as its next Chief U.S. Pretrial Services Officer. The Court congratulates Amaryllis on her selection and looks forward to her leadership of the Agency in the years ahead.