Dear Mr. Bonta,
Destination Freedom is a nonprofit prisoner and human rights advocacy organization. For the past year and a half, Destination Freedom has been reporting on the deaths at the Santa Rita Jail and now, recently, at the San Diego County Jail. My colleague/partner, and journalist for Destination Freedom, Keith “Malik” Washington, while at Sai1ta Rita Jail rep01ied about the mai1y deaths that occurred there before ai1d during his stay.
Because of the exercise of his First Amendment rights as a journalist and our advocacy efforts to bring awareness to this issue, Alameda County Sheriff’s Office (ACSO) contacted the U.S. Marshal Service and requested he be removed from that facility. Malik did not have disciplinary issues at the jail. He is currently being housed in San Diego. Malik is a federal pretrial detainee.
The issues which cause the in-custody deaths at these facilities are similar in nature.
There are a couple glaring common denominators, such as the company with which the specific sheriff’s office contracts for its medical services, and the lack of accountability/transparency of the current or former sheriff of that county.
The fact that Alameda County Sheriff Yesenia Sanchez is also the coroner poses an additional factor which creates further lack of accountability and transparency with their in-custody deaths. In doing our research, it appears that Dr. Steven Campman accepted the position of Chief Medical Examiner for San Diego County. This fact gives a degree of separation between county agencies and protects against conflicts of interest, unlike Alameda County.
Whether Sheriff Kelly Martinez has any input into the way in which their autopsies are conducted for their in-custody deaths is yet to be determined.
As I am sure you are aware, both counties have had federal class action lawsuits filed by inmates (class members) at their respective jails. What is of concern to our organization and many other advocates in Alameda County and San Diego County is the fact that Rosen, Bien, Galvan, and Grunfeld (RBGG) are representing the class members of both county jails. It is our understanding from researching the San Diego County federal lawsuit that a settlement agreement is in the works. If it is anything like the Consent Decree in the Babu v. Ahern case in Alameda County, the constitutional and human rights of the class members of San Diego Cow1ty will be sacrificed as part of the fee arrangement RBGG will negotiate with the County of San Diego for putting together the settlement agreement which may include monitoring of the jail instead of moving forward to trial.
It is of great concern to us that a conflict of interest exists in Alameda County because RBGG’s fees for representing the Santa Rita Jail class members are being paid by the County of Alameda. We have raised this fact in om articles, but apparently no one is paying attention.
Further, the so-called “expert monitors” are also being paid by the County of Alameda. Where’s the transparency and accountability demands that should be in place on the County of Alameda, the “expert monitors,” and RBGG, especially if neither RBGG and/or the “expert monitors” are themselves not held accountable or being able to enforce the Babu Consent Decree? If they do claim they are enforcing it, we would like to know how and when because in-custody deaths and the human/constitutional rights violations persist. Since the implementation of the Babu Consent Decree on February 7, 2022, there have been 10 in-custody deaths at the Santa Rita Jail.
In Babu, RBGG entered into a Stipulated Protective Order (SPO) which basically took the legs out of the class members’ ability to obtain documentary evidence of the abuses by sheriff deputies that have and are still happening at Santa Rita Jail despite the “Consent Decree” that RBGG so proudly hails as a “win” for the class members. This SPO was worded in such a way that any layperson who is self-represented would need extensive legal knowledge in order to proceed with the legal process outlined in the order to force the discovery of evidence through an order of the court (whether regarding any “disclosure or discovery” which is designated “confidential” during the pendency of the Babu case or in future litigation). This is not a “fair deal” for these incarcerated individuals, most of which do not have a college education, much less a law degree.
Instead of taking this case to trial, RBGG settled with Alameda County and protected Alameda County’s interests over those of their class member clients, the inmates at Santa Rita Jail. How is this a fair resolution to issues which were and continue to be ongoing violations of prisoners’ rights? No law firm with a paying client who is not incarcerated would have agreed to such a settlement. Alameda County was the “pot of gold” at the end.
RBGG during and after the implementation of the Consent Decree have time and time again failed their incarcerated class member clients by refusing to hold the Babu Defendants accountable when they acted and continue to act in such a way that violates the class members’ civil and human rights. Writing letters to Babu Defendants’ counsel IS NOT advocating for your clients’ rights under the Consent Decree—RBGG does not have any authority to force Alameda County’s hands.
Further, the “expert monitors” have never once mentioned in their reports, at any level, the deaths that occurred while they were “monitoring” the Santa Rita Jail.
Our allegation is that RBGG has refused to hold the Babu Defendants’ feet to the fire because Alameda County is filling their coffers with millions of dollars for legal fees in representing the class members who filed their lawsuit against the Babu Defendants. Moreover, the California State Bar warns attorneys and law firms to avoid conflicts of interests similar to the one in this case (Rule 1.7).
The only way that the citizens of Alameda Cow1ty will be treated in a just and fair manner is if your office, the California Attorney General, intervenes and conducts a thorough and fact-finding investigation into the deaths of those community members that were housed at Santa Rita Jail.
We would like to see you give the San Diego County Sheriff’s Office’s ultimatum to the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office. Sheriff Sanchez has been in office for almost a year now and nothing has changed. The Babu Consent Decree are just words on paper that neither Judge Cousins, RBGG, the Defendants’ counsel, or the ACSO are adhering to.
The other issue is Sheriff Sanchez’ conflict of interest as the sheriff/coroner for Alameda Cow1ty. The fox cannot be relied upon to watch the hen house to protect the chickens. The recent disclosures by the People’s Lawyer, Atlante Pointer, of the actions of the sheriff’s deputies and Wellpath employees in the Maurice Monk case should be of great concern to your office. It took Mr. Pointer two years to obtain a court order for the video that was plastered in the media (thanks to the SPO that RBGG negotiated for the class member).
The coroner’s report stated that Mr. Monk died from “hypertensive cardiovascular disease.” At the time of Mr. Monk’s death, Sheriff A11ern was the sheriff/coroner. Had the sheriff’s deputies intervened prior to November 15, 2021 (as shown in the video, watching and attempting to speak with an unresponsive individual through the cell door glass for at a minimum of two days without opening his cell door to see if he needed medical attention), Mr. Monk would probably be alive. Where was Wellpath through all of this? Oh, that’s right, tossing his meds on the floor of his cell through the food slot while he lay face down, motionless on his bunk.
In an Alameda County Board of Supervisors’ special meeting on December 6, 2022 (not recorded), Richard Lucia, Alameda County Sheriff’s Office Undersheriff had the audacity to state to the Board that he felt it was unnecessary to have an oversight committee for the ACSO. If this matter wasn’t as serious as it is, his statement would have been comical.
Another inmate, Eric Magana died at Santa Rita Jail on April 27, 2023. As far as we can determine through our research, there is still no coroner’s report on Mr. Magana’s death; 7 months later. If there is a coroner’s report, it is not being disclosed to the public or the news media. Enclosed is our article on Eric Magana and the inactions of the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office.
As for San Diego Cow1ty Jail (SDCJ), last week, Malik informed Kara Janssen at RBGG that he interviewed an inn1ate that came from the San Diego County Jail. In my email to Ms. Janssen (from Malik’s own words dictated to me), we advised her of this inmate’s issues while at SDCJ.
Here’s the information that Malik provided in his email to Ms. Janssen:
Malik recently interviewed an elderly black man who was housed at this jail from October 26 to November 2, 2023. There are a couple things that Malik wanted to bring to your attention and the attention of Gay Grunfeld. First, the detainee that Malik interviewed reports that he spent approximately 48 hours in the intake area before he was housed. Second, when he was finally housed, he was placed in the cell with 2 other prisoners who had serious mental health issues and histories of violent assault. The detainee reports that he was misclassified by the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department. Third, the detainee in question reports that he is 60 years old, he has mobility issues and uses a cane, and has no violent history. Fourth, an important issue that needs to be raised and reported to Gay Grunfeld is that the SD County Sheriff’s Department is still placing detainees in cells with 3 bunks and they are not insuring that detainees with mobility or disability issues are placed on a bottom bunk. Fifth, the detainee that Malik interviewed also reports that the misclassification placed him in harms way. Lastly, the classification department at the San Diego County Jail eventually caught their classification error but the detainee rightfully raises this issue: How could the San Diego County jail staff misclassify a detainee who was intake for over 48 hours before being housed? Like SRJ, San Diego Central Jail is still having many problems that impact detainees with disabilities. Malik wanted to thank RBGG for the work they are doing in San Diego County Central Jail and he hopes that RBGG will do a better job holding ACSO accountable for their misdeeds.
If the above is still occurring at SDCJ, it appears that the spokesman for the SDCJ, Lt. David LaDieu, and Sheriff Martinez have not heeded your warning and continue to allow the misclassification of inmates and put detainees with disability issues in harms way, which mistake could possibly lead to another in-custody death, for several reasons.
Destination Freedom’s efforts in bringing awareness are simply to make sure that detainees and incarcerated individuals are treated humanely, provided proper medical care for their chronic conditions, and properly assessed on intake and classified so that mistakes (as noted above) do not tum into a tragedy that did not need to happen. As in the recent case of Yuri Brand in Alameda County, had the ACSO Classification Depa1iment placed Mr. Brand in a single cell, Mr. Brand would be alive today. The carelessness of staff in county jails should require a review of their management’s policies and procedures to root out the source of the problem and make the proper modifications/corrections so that these types of incidents do not recur. Unfortunately, the same mistakes are happening over and over again; no one in these jails seems to care.
Maybe an example has to be made with one of the county sheriff’s offices in California with the sheriff and staff facing heavy consequences for their actions; whether civil or criminal. The policy of immunity for their actions is not working and costing not only the family members (including the children) the loss of their loved one’s life, it is also costing the taxpayers of these California counties millions of dollars in various types of civil lawsuits.
Signed
Gale Sanders, President
Destination Freedom
cc: Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price, Senators Nancy Skinner, Toni Atkins, and Aisha Wahab
