San Diego Sheriff’s Board of Supervisors Dismisses Complaints Due to Lack of Jurisdiction – San Diego Union-Tribune

The jails are filthy, often littered with trash, and people in sheriff’s custody get sick cleaning up human waste that regularly overflows from aging toilets, according to lawsuits filed against the San Diego Sheriff’s Office.

Allegations are that the food served to men and women in San Diego County jails is unsafe and the water is not potable.

Cells are not cleaned before new occupants arrive, clothing is yellow and stained with unidentified scabs or semen, and the library and other programs and services are generally not available in county jails, the reports say.

“Incarcerated individuals were provided with polluted water for drinking and showering, and hazardous waste contaminated the water used to wash incarcerated individuals’ clothing and bedding,” the complaint reads.

“It’s unsanitary, unethical, unprofessional and an act of cruelty,” says another.

But the allegations submitted to the Citizens’ Law Enforcement Review Board (CLERB) were summarily dismissed. Investigators say the allegations are outside their jurisdiction.

The review board’s rejections mean the complaints – filed last year by lawyer Laila Aziz and an inmate identified only as Borgen – will not be investigated.

In total, the review board dismissed 17 separate complaints about conditions in San Diego County jails, which have seen an outsized number of deaths and neglect lawsuits in recent years.

The allegations “do not specify misconduct by a deputy,” the watchdog said. “As such, these types of allegations fall outside the scope of the San Diego County Charter or the authority granted to CLERB by the San Diego County Board of Supervisors.”

The San Diego Sheriff’s Office did not respond to questions about the allegations or the review board’s lack of jurisdiction to investigate them. Authorities said in a statement that they appreciated the review board’s dedication.

“The Sheriff’s Office will continue to work with the CLERB Board toward our shared goal of improving public safety services for everyone in San Diego County,” the statement said.

Nora Vargas, who chairs the county’s Board of Supervisors, did not respond to a request for comment on the wave of complaints about faulty jail facilities and infrastructure.

MaryAnne Pintar, chair of CLERB, said the review board continues to hear complaints that people in custody are tasked with cleaning up human waste. Pintar said the board will discuss alternatives at its October meeting.

“We’re going to have to find another way to express our concerns when we don’t have jurisdiction,” she said. “We’re going to discuss what other options are available to us, if we can no longer make findings that don’t involve a direct representative.”

Aziz, who works as director of the advocacy group Pillars of the Community, said last year that many men at the George Bailey Detention Center in Otay Mesa had fallen ill because of the harsh conditions.

“They think it’s because they have to clean up the excrement and urine when the toilets overflow, which happens twice a week,” she said. “The waste comes from all the toilets. They say the guards force them to clean up the waste and they don’t have any protective equipment, including gloves.”

Borgen said that in his experience the prisons were clearly squalid and unsanitary.

“The quarantine cells were not properly cleaned prior to the arrival of new occupants, resulting in unsanitary conditions that increased the risk of contracting COVID-19,” the complaint states.

“In addition, Borgen reported mold, potential lead exposure, and a lack of privacy in showers, where inmates were exposed to others while showering, violating their privacy,” the report added.

The San Diego Union-Tribune newspaper reported Aziz’s complaint when it was filed early last year. It accused sheriff’s deputies of serving blackened waffles with exaggerated faces printed on them that many considered racist, comparing them to blackface.

Aziz also claimed that prisons were not preventing birds from flying into the facilities and creating problems for inmates.

“When they speak on the phone with their loved ones, most of them say that they were defecated on,” the complaint states.

Sheriff’s officials also declined to comment on complaints from last year.

“We take these allegations seriously and they will be investigated,” the sheriff’s office said. “It would be inappropriate for us to comment on these allegations or this investigation at this time.”

It is not yet clear whether the sheriff’s office has conducted its own investigation into the allegations or whether any findings have been released.

Modernizing and renovating San Diego County’s seven jails — some of which are 50 years old or more — has been a major priority for Sheriff Kelly A. Martinez since she was sworn in early last year.

A little over a year ago, the sheriff opened a renovated portion of the Rock Mountain Detention Center, just north of the George Bailey Detention Center in Otay Mesa.

The facility opened years late and at least $10 million over budget. Rock Mountain now houses fewer than 170 men, less than 5 percent of the sheriff’s custody.

Last fall, Martinez presented a department-wide plan to invest nearly $500 million over 10 years to design and build new county jails and modernized prisons.

The next prison facility to be renovated under the “strategic framework” for new prisons is the Vista detention centre, which now houses nearly 700 men and women.

Martinez said she plans to spend about $316 million in the coming years to renovate and replace parts of the North County complex.

San Diego County has had a high death rate among inmates for years, partly because of deteriorating conditions inside the jails. A 2019 Union-Tribune investigation found that the department had the highest number of deaths of any large county in California over the previous 10 years.

The six-month investigation, which led to a state audit, found that deaths and injuries in county jails were often caused by inadequate facilities. They also led to claims and lawsuits that cost taxpayers millions of dollars.

The audit’s findings, released in early 2022, said jail conditions in San Diego County were so dangerous that new legislation was needed to force reforms on a reluctant department.

Before former Sheriff Bill Gore resigned midterm the same day the audit was released, he said the department would seek accreditation from the National Commission on Correctional Health Care to help reduce deaths and injuries among those in its care.

But an NCCHC assessment found the department needed to complete a series of new installations and facility upgrades before it could achieve accreditation.