Last Updated on December 10, 2024 by BVN
S.E. Williams
It’s been almost two years since California Attorney General Rob Bonta announced in late February 2023, the launching of a Civil Rights investigation into the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department (RCSD). Today, Riverside County constituents are still awaiting the results.
The investigation sought/is seeking to determine whether RCSD has engaged in “a pattern or practice of unconstitutional policing amid deeply concerning allegations relating to conditions of confinement in its jail facilities, excessive force, and other misconduct.”
In collaboration with the Investigative Editing Corps and Report for America and with support from inewsource, a nonprofit investigative newsroom in San Diego, In early January 2024, Black Voice News published Fentanyl Crisis and Mental Health Issues Drive 2022 Increase in Deaths in Riverside County Jails.
The report stressed how the in custody death rate in Riverside County in 2022 was the third highest among large California counties.
After reviewing autopsy reports/investigations, Black Voice News (BVN) revealed the way corrections officers monitored people in custody in 2022, and the quality of mental health care behind bars that year were demonstrably similar to issues identified in a 2013 federal lawsuit that eventually demanded Riverside County improve the medical and mental health care of incarcerated persons.
“If I die in police custody, know that they killed me. If I die in police custody, show up at the jail, make noise, protest, tell my mother. If I die in police custody, tell the entire world: I wanted to live.”
Patrisse Khan-Cullors
Sadly, in 2022, nearly a decade after a court-monitored settlement in the case that resulted in a consent decree. It required corrections related to monitoring, mental health and a variety of other issues, Riverside County jails have yet to meet requirements defined by the agreement. At the time of the BVN report, RCSD had complied with only 13 of the near 80 provisions detailed in the consent decree.
A report issued last month by carefirstca.org showed Riverside County reported its highest detainee death count in decades. This included multiple suicides that “reveal deep institutional problems.” According to the report, nearly 250 people have died in-custody since 2011, an increase of about 133% even though the jail population has remained fairly stable.
What is most important to stress about this issue—in addition to the loss of lives—is the concerning reality that fully 93% of in-custody deaths in Riverside County jails occur before the detained individual is ever even tried, let alone convicted, of the crime for which they were being detained.
According to the report, an average of 19 individuals have died in-custody each year in Riverside County since 2011.
According to the report, an average of 19 individuals have died in-custody each year in Riverside County since 2011. (source: carefirstca.org)
Meanwhile, in a couple of months, the CA State Attorney General’s investigation into RCSD will be two years old; and its been about 11 years since the 2013 Consent Decree called on RCSD to make improvements in its detention processes and procedures.
Those of good conscience understand that change takes time, but 11 years to reconcile issues identified in a federal consent decree that involves the loss of life? Two years to complete an investigation by the CA State Attorney General for nearly the same reason?
If we were not talking about human lives I could understand the delays in reconciling systemic breakdowns and the lack of urgency. But when we are losing 19 lives on average each year, then hypothetically speaking nearly 38 people could have died in-custody as we await results of the Attorney General’s investigation.
Where is the sense of urgency? Where is the concern for human life? Where is the outrage?
We have a right to ask these questions. We also deserve answers.
Of course, this is just my opinion. I’m keeping it real.
