SAN DIEGO COUNTY JAIL DEATHS STILL A PROBLEM

Five San Diego County inmates died between

Oct. 7 and Nov. 11, after only four had died before then in 2020. It’s among the largest clusters of fatalities in a short span of time in Sheriff Bill Gore’s 10plus years in office, and it’s a painful reminder that the Sheriff ’s Department reported more than 140 jail deaths from 2009 to 2019, according to a lengthy investigation by The San Diego Union-Tribune.

Gore disputes some of the methodology of that

U-T investigation and says his department has boosted funding and training to improve inmate health and safety. In an email to an editorial writer this week, the sheriff ’s media team offered a similar critique of the U-T story about the latest deaths and wrote, “The Sheriff ’s Department has always contended that even one death in our jails is too many.”

But the millions of dollars the county has paid out over the years in lawsuits and settlements related to jail deaths can’t be obfuscated by criticizing a methodology that state and federal governments use to calculate mortality rates among incarcerated people. Nor can the fact that the Sheriff ’s Department stopped announcing jail deaths last year, forcing the U-T to file public records requests to confirm the most recent fatalities. If Gore wanted to let the public know that he is handling this crisis of jail deaths, he should let the public know about the jail deaths in the first place. He should post what details he can to his website for all to see — and judge.

Something needs to change. That would be a start.