Parents whose adult children died in local jails are asking county officials to demand better oversight of the San Diego Sheriff’s Office.
The parents of Elisa Serna and the mother of Michael Wilson argue in a letter sent Wednesday to county supervisors that Sheriff Kelly Martinez “has repeatedly defied efforts to subject her department to reasonable oversight.”
Serna died in the Las Colinas women’s jail in 2019 at the age of 24 and Wilson in the Central Jail the same year at 32, after their parents say they each were denied life-saving medical treatment. The county agreed to a $15 million settlement with the Sernas in July and late last month agreed to pay almost $5 million to Wilson’s mother.
The settlements bring the amount the county has paid over the last six years in settlements and jury awards for deaths and serious injuries in sheriff’s custody to roughly $80 million.
“These two deaths are the tip of the iceberg of neglect, apathy, and deliberate indifference the Sheriff has demonstrated in failing to provide safety and care to those remanded to custody,” Paloma and Michael Serna and Phyllis Jackson say in their letter.
The parents’ letter asks the Board of Supervisors to expand the authority of the Citizens Law Enforcement Review Board, known as CLERB, to let it oversee jail medical staff. Currently the board’s jurisdiction is limited to sworn staff.
It also calls on supervisors to add an inspector general to supplement CLERB’s oversight and asks them to encourage CLERB to use its subpoena power “to ensure effective transparency.”
Expanding the review board’s oversight to include medical staff and adding an inspector general were both championed by CLERB’s former executive officer, Paul Parker. Parker resigned in March over frustration with county officials.
“I feel like I’m banging my head against the wall, and the county doesn’t seem to want to do anything to have true oversight,” he told The San Diego Union-Tribune.
Tim Ware listens during a CLERB meeting at the San Diego County Administration Center on Tuesday, Sept. 3, 2024 in San Diego. (Meg McLaughlin / The San Diego Union-Tribune)
Supervisor Terra Lawson-Remer said in an interview that preventable jail deaths are “completely unacceptable” and that she was open to adding an inspector general and discussing other oversight improvements.
Eugene Iredale, one of the families’ attorneys, said the letter was partly motivated by the sheriff’s refusal to turn over records to consultants hired by CLERB to examine in-custody deaths.
“The sheriff touts herself as a reformer (but) refuses the simplest request … to turn over the data that’s necessary to recommend needed changes in practice and procedure in the jail,” he said.
This week, CLERB sent Martinez a two-page letter asking her to “immediately cooperate” with researchers from The Mountain-Whisper-Light, the consulting group conducting the study.
“Despite numerous (California Public Records Act) requests submitted by TMWL, the data has not been fully provided, with multiple requests denied or delayed,” CLERB’s chair, MaryAnne Pintar, wrote. “Many of the reasons documents were denied are spurious, or reflect the Sheriff’s Office asserting CPRA exemptions it could choose to waive.”
A sheriff’s spokesperson said Martinez is committed to civilian oversight of her department and to preventing in-custody deaths, but the records the consultants have requested include confidential, legally protected information.
“We appreciate CLERB’s willingness to discuss these challenges, and I am confident that through continued dialogue, we can find solutions that meet both of our obligations and responsibilities,” Lt. David LaDieu said via email.
Martinez was elected in 2022 to replace Sheriff Bill Gore after Gore’s early retirement. In a lengthy interview with the Union-Tribune in early October, she described new initiatives meant to stop drugs from getting into jails, monitor mentally ill detainees and flag people who might require a higher level of medical care.
The reforms may be working. Between 2019 and 2023, San Diego jails averaged 15.6 deaths a year. So far this year, six people have died in jail custody. A seventh man died in a hospital shortly after being released.
Iredale said the drop in deaths was a good sign. He acknowledged the challenges of running a large jail system but wants to see multiple years of fewer deaths.
“Hopefully we will no longer have the chant ‘Were number one’ for our county jail deaths,” he said.
In 2023, Paloma Serna looks on during a rally in El Cajon for her daughter Elisa Serna, who died in a San Diego County jail in 2019. (U-T)