New amendments to legislation that Sen. Toni Atkins introduced in April to foist more ability on elected sheriffs have done away with a key oversight provision that would have allowed county supervisors to assume control of local jails.
The bill would now create a special state monitor to investigate in-custody deaths and audit substandard healthcare practices — only when invited to do so by state officials or county boards of supervisors.
But rather than require sheriffs to better protect people in custody by implementing whatever fixes the state recommends, the monitor could only ask that specific reforms be enacted.
Atkins, the San Diego Democrat now serving as Senate president, said she had expected the bill would be amended as it made its way through the statehouse.
She said law enforcement interests across the state had pushed back against the idea of allowing county boards to establish their own departments of corrections to run local jails.
But she said the bill still contains significant reforms designed to improve conditions in San Diego County jails and beyond.
“Clearly, I liked the bill as it was introduced originally,” Atkins said in a telephone interview late last week. “It was a little bit of an uphill battle. I had the benefit of being the (Senate) pro tem, but it doesn’t change the dynamic when it comes to the Senate and Assembly voting.
“We knew there would have to be changes,” she said.
The legislation would still require sheriffs to release internal investigative records related to in-custody deaths — a critical change that would give the public and family of those who die in jail a broader understanding of what led to their deaths.
The bill is scheduled to go before an Assembly committee later this week. If ed in the Assembly, it would have to return to the Senate for approval of the amendments before heading to the governor’s desk.
“If we get it through the Assembly and it comes back to the Senate, I guarantee I will do everything in my power to get it to the governor,” Atkins said. “I am optimistic we will be successful.”
The Atkins bill is one of two pieces of legislation that seek to strengthen the Board of State and Community Corrections, the California agency that regulates local jails.
While the state board would oversee the monitor created through the Atkins bill, a proposed law introduced by Assemblymember Akilah Weber, the Democrat from La Mesa, would add one healthcare provider and one mental-health expert to that .
It would also require the Board of State and Community Corrections to raise the standard for mental health care inside jails.
The Weber bill would require detailed safety checks of at-risk incarcerated people and require at least four hours per year of mental-health training for guards and at least 12 hours of continuing education for healthcare workers.
Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoed a similar measure last year, saying he was concerned that adding two to the now 13-person would impede its ability to carry out its mission in a timely manner.
Both bills were introduced in response to continuing deaths in San Diego County jails, which have recorded the highest mortality rate among California’s largest counties for years.
Eight people have died in local jails so far this year, and a record 20 died last year, including one who died hours after his release.
According to a state audit released last year, conditions in San Diego County jails had become so dangerous that state legislation was needed to force reforms.
The continuing deaths have prompted a wave of litigation, much of which has yet to be resolved.
Taxpayers in the past five years have spent more than $60 million on jury awards and settlements from plaintiffs alleging wrongful deaths and other negligence by deputies.
Paul Parker is the executive officer of the San Diego County Citizens’ Law Enforcement Review Board, the civilian that oversees the Sheriff’s and Probation departments.
Parker, who traveled to Sacramento in April to testify in favor of Atkins’ original bill, said he continues to the legislation even though it no longer permits county supervisors to take over control of jails where sheriffs refuse to impose reforms.
“I am pleased with these amendments as they, in my opinion, strengthen SB 519,” he said, referring to the bill’s designated number. “They lessen the fiscal impact to the county while permitting a local entity to exert a level of control by calling for an audit or review.”
The review board executive said the state monitor, his agency’s oversight and Sheriff Kelly Martinez’s commitment to reforms “will provide a necessary three-pronged approach to reduce in-custody deaths and improve the quality and delivery of medical and mental health care.”
Michele Deitch, director of the Prison and Jail Innovation Lab at the University of Texas at Austin and an expert in jail oversight, said that giving the Board of State and Community Corrections investigative authority can prompt much-needed reforms.
“Getting an official, credible assessment of what happened is going to lead to changes,” she said.
Deitch said she hopes the bill will also include a provision that gives investigators the ability to make unannounced visits to the jails they are investigating and speak confidentially to incarcerated people.
She would also like to see the state board be granted the authority to launch investigations based on complaints it receives, not only in response to requests from outside officials.
The legislation, she said, “has a lot of potential” and was unlike anything she has seen in other states.
Another provision in the Atkins bill would require the release of internal sheriff’s findings related to jail deaths.
The Senate president said making investigative findings available for public inspection would help hold California sheriffs more able to voters. The legislation does allow for specific redactions of personal information.
But Martinez has often resisted allowing even family of people who died in custody to review the internal reports.
In the run-up to the November election, Martinez said she would approve the release of records produced by what’s called the Critical Incident Review Board, an internal group of department leaders that meets regularly to discuss jail deaths and other cases.
But soon after being sworn in, Martinez reversed her position. Instead of releasing the records, the department posts brief Critical Incident Review Board summaries that are similar to news releases.
Even the relatives of people who died in San Diego County jails have had difficulty accessing the sheriff’s internal findings.
The San Diego Union-Tribune and other news organizations intervened in one case earlier this year, asking a federal judge to force Martinez to turn over Critical Incident Review Board records related to a lawsuit the county settled for nearly $8 million.
U.S. District Court Judge Jinsook Ohta ruled against San Diego County in May, directing the Sheriff’s Department to produce internal findings related to injuries plaintiff Frankie Greer suffered in the Men’s Central Jail in 2018 and to the injuries and deaths of other formerly incarcerated people.
“There are valid and compelling reasons for the public to be informed about the conditions inside the county jails,” the judge said. “The public has an interest in those documents.”
The county has reserved its right to appeal but last month turned over some 170 pages of records associated with the Greer case and the deaths and injuries of a dozen other people in San Diego County jails in recent years.
Lawyers for the San Diego Union-Tribune and other news outlets said Friday that both sides had submitted their proposed redactions to the court. The judge is likely to make a decision about what details may be withheld from public view in the next several weeks.
“If the county appeals, then it is up to the court to issue a stay on the order releasing the documents publicly,” said James Davis, one of the attorneys representing the media outlets. “We’ll have a better estimate of when the documents will be released publicly at that point.”
SB 519 is scheduled to be heard by the Assembly Committee of Public Safety on Tuesday.
The Weber bill, known as AB 268, is scheduled to be heard the same day by of the Senate Public Safety Committee.
