COUNTY JAIL HORROR STORIES NEED TO STOP

For years, the disproportionate number of deaths at San Diego County jails has drawn heavy attention from journalists as well as from civil rights activists who question why the Sheriff ’s Department hasn’t taken greater steps to ensure inmate health. For years, the department has insisted that it is addressing the issue and that criticism is overblown.

But the crisis persists. This month, the county decided to settle a lawsuit for $3.5 million over the 2018 death of Paul Silva, 39, a mentally ill man who was detained by San Diego police after his mother called to report he was behaving psychotically after he stopped taking medication for schizophrenia.

According to the lawsuit, instead of taking Silva to a hospital, officers took him to the Men’s Central Jail, where he was put in a holding cell for 36 hours without access to medical care, water or a bed. During a violent encounter with at least six deputies, Silva was severely injured. A month later, Silva died at UC San Diego Medical Center. He is one of 140 county inmates who have died since 2009.

That is the same year that William Gore became sheriff, a post he continues to hold. County supervisors need to make it clear to Gore that horror stories like Silva’s must stop. The $3.5 million settlement increased the amount the county has paid out for inmate deaths and injuries in recent years to more than $10 million, with at least a dozen other lawsuits filed in court. But the cost to taxpayers should be a secondary motive for a board intervention. The main motivation? In a humane country, being locked up shouldn’t turn into a death sentence.