San Diego County Sheriff Kelly Martinez has agreed to a series of reforms to better protect disabled people in department custody, days before a federal court hearing on efforts to improve their living conditions in county jails.
The Sheriff’s Department announced the agreement with plaintiffs’ lawyers Tuesday afternoon, saying, among other things, that it will modify showers, toilets and beds in county jails to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Sheriff’s officials also will update the booking process to help make sure people being locked up are housed in appropriate settings.
“Disability rights are civil rights and the sheriff holds the rights of all individuals in county jails as paramount,” the department said in a prepared statement. “The San Diego County Sheriff’s Department has taken significant steps to increase awareness for persons with disabilities.”
The county was sued last year by disability-rights attorneys who represent some 15 people who are currently or formerly incarcerated in San Diego County jails.
The complaint accuses the sheriff of violating the Americans with Disabilities Act by placing people with mobility issues in upper bunks, failing to provide sign-language interpreters and not adhering to other rules regarding detainees with special needs.
“Plaintiffs and incarcerated people with disabilities have suffered loss of dignity and physical injuries as a result of defendants’ policies and practices, and they are at ongoing risk of future harm,” the plaintiffs’ legal team wrote in a court filing.
The plaintiffs sought an injunction in late April, asking a judge to order the Sheriff’s Department to do more to serve disabled people incarcerated in the county’s jail system.
A hearing on the request was scheduled for June 30, a hearing date that apparently helped secure the settlement.
Attorneys representing the 15 plaintiffs said they were pleased with the agreement and predicted it will help stop needless injuries and suffering in county jails.
“Under the stipulation, the county will begin reducing its reliance on triple bunks and will undertake long overdue disability renovations at Central Jail,” attorney Gay Grunfeld said in a statement.
“The county will also revise its ADA policies to ensure safe and accessible housing and effective communication for incarcerated people with disabilities,” Grunfeld said.
Plaintiffs’ lawyers said they will monitor the Sheriff’s Department to make sure it fully implements the of the stipulated agreement. They also said they would continue to work with sheriff’s officials to improve other conditions for incarcerated people with disabilities.
Grunfeld said when they sought the injunction that it was needed because the Sheriff’s Department had resisted making improvements for too long.
“Some things could be done at no cost at all,” Grunfeld told The San Diego Union-Tribune in April. “We’re asking them to come up with a plan that provides safe, accessible housing.”
More specifically, Grunfeld said sheriff’s officials could use video technology to provide sign-language interpreters in real time during the booking process and at other times to communicate with deaf people in custody.
The department also could do a better job of asg housing to people when they are booked into custody, the lawsuit alleged. Too many detainees, like Nierobi Kuykendall, were placed in bunks they could not access, it added.
Kuykendall relies on a wheelchair due to a prior back injury. In a sworn declaration, he said he was almost always assigned to a bunk he could not get into and was often forced to sleep on the floor of the downtown jail.
“I asked if I could speak to a sergeant to explain that I needed my wheelchair … but no one came to talk to me,” he wrote.
In addition to agreeing to upgrade bathrooms and beds, the settlement requires the Sheriff’s Department to provide sign-language interpreters — either live or remotely. Officials also will do a more thorough job evaluating disabled people during the booking process.
The department also agreed to amend its policies and procedures manual to codify deputies’ responsibilities for handling men and women with disabilities who are housed in county jails.
“We have plans in place and are committed to making much needed improvements to county jails that will incorporate renovations to aging facilities and anticipated changes that will improve healthcare and reduce returns to custody,” the sheriff’s statement said.
The lawsuit was first filed in 2020 by Darryl Dunsmore, who represented himself in the initial complaint.
Three separate law firms have now ed in the case, which also had added a cluster of current and former detainees. The legal complaint seeks to impose wholesale changes across the Sheriff’s Department in how it treats disabled people in custody.
In court papers, lawyers for the county denied the allegations in the lawsuit and sought to dismiss it. Earlier this year, a judge rejected that motion, saying there appeared to be enough to proceed.
San Diego County has about 4,000 people in custody at any given time, a significant percentage of whom are disabled.
The jail system has been plagued with the highest mortality rate among California’s largest counties, recording more than 225 deaths since 2006. Twenty people died in custody last year, including one man who was comionately released hours before dying in a local hospital.
Six other people have died in San Diego County jails so far this year, Sheriff’s Department records show.
The stipulated agreement does not end the legal dispute.
Lawyers for the plaintiffs have until late November to ask the court for class certification, meaning the claims could be broadened to include many more plaintiffs than the current group of current and former detainees.
The legal team also is in the process of evaluating additional evidence through the process of discovery and will continue to inspect county jail facilities for ADA compliance.
