SACRAMENTO, CA – As the dead bodies of those housed in Sacramento County jails pile up—five in less than three months since May, the latest in late July—advocates are charging the facilities are in “crisis.”
The death of 40-year-old Asaiah Germone Washington July 26 was the fifth in-custody death in the last 12 weeks. Three other inmate deaths occurred May 5, May 12 and June 8 at the downtown facility; another man died June 28 at the Rio Cosumnes Correctional Center near Elk Grove.
“The Sacramento County Jail is in crisis. Drugs are widely available inside the facilities, and people are dying as a result,” wrote the San Quentin-based Prison Law Office, urging employee drug screenings, the Sacramento Bee wrote.
Advocates put the blame on the jail and Sheriff Jim Cooper, noting, “How many people have to die before they’ve seen a courtroom,” noting the vast majority of people in Sacramento Jails have not been convicted of anything and are just waiting for the legal process to be completed.
Keyan Bliss echoed the call for a hard look at the jail, charging, as a member of the Sacramento Community Police Review Commission and Decarcerate Sacramento, “How many people have to die before our elected representatives hold our sheriff accountable?”
“We are in a place that has become a burial ground for Black men and women. We simply want to know what happened? We have hurt and pain. We are frustrated and confused. Why does this continue to happen?” said advocate Berry Accius of Voice of the Youth.
“Why are the answers so vague? We can’t continue to see Black men come to the county jail and end up found dead,” Accius added in a Bee interview.
“It’s officially become commonplace for folks to gather outside this jail,” said Meg White of JUICE Sacramento, adding, “We need independent oversight. We need community resources. This jail is already under federal consent decree for inhumane and unconstitutional practices.”
The Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office said Washington and another inmate were found unresponsive in their cell, according to an ABC10 news report that added, “Deputies used Narcan and were able to revive the other inmate but not Washington.”
His wife Tonette told ABC10 he was “clean and living at a half-way house, passing drug tests weekly. My husband should be here right now. We talked to him at 10 a.m. 11:15 a.m., he was gone.”
“How do you overdose in a Sacramento County jail? Where did it come from?” Tonette said.
Interestingly, although the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office won’t comment on the case, and the coroner’s office said toxicology results could take nine months, news reports state six people were arrested earlier this year—including a jail medical assistant—for smuggling drugs into the jail.
Besides Washington, the fifth person to die in custody of the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office since May, others include, said ABC10 news:
“May 5: 45-year-old Lope Elwin Tolosa died in the detox cell due to Hemorrhagic Intestinal Volvulus. The case remains open, however coroner reports are not available.
“May 12: 55-year-old David Barefield died during the fingerprinting process of intake. The cause of death was fentanyl and methamphetamine intoxication.
“June 8: Smiley Martin died in Sacramento County Jail. No cause of death has been released.
“June 28: 41-year-old Juan Angel Rodriguez died at Rio Cosumnes Corrections Center. The cause of death is pending.”
