At our December meeting we had two speakers talk to us about CLERB (Citizens’ Law Enforcement Review) for San Diego County. Aaron Fischer is from Fischer Law Office and Bardis Vakili is from the ACLU. Aaron specializes in civil rights and Bardis has engaged in litigation involving San Diego County detention facilities. Some of what they shared was:
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People with mental health and cognitive disabilities were vastly overrepresented in San Diego County jails and were housed in worst confinement, including solitary confinement. They spent longer time in jail and in a more restrictive environment than anyone else.
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Solitary confinement worsened conditions of the mentally ill and harmed those who were not mentally ill but who suffered mental health conditions as a result of being so confined.
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San Diego County, as a rate and as an absolute number, has had more in-custody deaths than anywhere else in the state for persons with mental health/cognitive problems. San Diego had three times as many suicides as L.A. County, which has a much larger jail population (3x population).
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The lawyers brought in correctional mental health experts to look at records and policies in San Diego County. They came up with 44 recommendations to reduce the high number and high rate of suicides among jail inmates. We will be looking at those recommendations to see which we should advocate for going forward. We will use our LWVC Criminal Justice Position as a guideline.
The January meeting will be on Wednesday, January 12, at 12:00 noon on Zoom. You can access it by going to the League calendar. We are having a speaker, Michael Gallaspy, who is also a member of the committee, speak to us on the surveillance tool “ShotSpotter” at our January 12th meeting.
Our responses to CLERB and the election of a new sheriff will be foremost on our list of “Things to Do” for much of 2022.