At the meeting on September 14 at noon, we will discuss steps to take with the County Sheriff and DA regarding jail deaths, along with ideas for advocacy on surveillance and traffic stops by local government entities.
At the August meeting, Darwin Fishman from the Racial Justice Coalition of San Diego spoke to us about the “Prosecute or Resign” and “Saving Lives in Custody (SLIC)” campaigns that they are working on now. The RJCSD was the group that drove the efforts to end chokeholds by law enforcement officers in San Diego County. Out of all the local jurisdictions, Sheriff Gore was the last one to ban them.
According to Darwin, one of the big problems is the training and the culture that seems to pervade the jail system. He noted that San Diego County District Attorney Summer Stephan is very popular due to work with victims of violence and other good changes she has made. She is running for re-election unopposed. There have been an extraordinary number of deaths in our jails and it isn’t slowing down, but the outside report on the terrible condition of our jails did not criticize the DA. Between 2009 and 2018, the jails averaged about one death per month, but in the last four years, that has increased; there have been over 200 deaths since 2009. Only one employee associated with these deaths has been prosecuted and that was a nurse who did nothing to care for a pregnant woman who was having a seizure. We may need to talk to the DA again. She was very helpful when we met with her previously.
Many of the jail deaths are due to drug overdoses, particularly fentanyl overdoses. Inmates are only screened when they are booked into jail; they aren’t re-screened when they return from court or medical visits. Nor are any of the jail employees screened. RJCSD believes that everyone should be screened whenever they come into the jail, as they are in courthouses and airports. It seems to be a good step to stop the drugs from getting into the jails.
How should our League work to correct these problems? There were suggestions to educate the public via stories of those in jail, families of those in jail and those who have been in jail. We are hoping to have another talk with the DA or one of her staff members regarding the law enforcement officers who have not been disciplined.