Federal lawsuits mount against Riverside County sheriff over surge in jail deaths
Four families have filed separate federal lawsuits against the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department claiming their relatives died in the county’s jails last year due to failures in training and emergency medical treatment.
Three of the families appeared together during a press conference Thursday in front of the U.S. District Court in Riverside. The fourth filed suit in early May. All of the suits allege that the deaths, part of a record 18 people who died in the county’s custody last year, could have been prevented.
"I'm here to say imagine you have a family member who is struggling and they get arrested," said Marissa Vasquez, the sister of one of the men who died in jail last year. "You think they are going to get the help they need. We got a knock on the door in the middle of the night telling us he was gone."
The families shared their pain and their confusion about what exactly led to the deaths of their relatives and why the sheriff's department has not released details about what has led to the ongoing and unprecedented surge in deaths behind bars.
"The law dictates that the sheriff is responsible for the safety of those in their custody," said Christian Contreras, one of the attorneys who filed the three newest suits. "Sheriff Bianco has failed at his responsibilities, and we're here to hold him accountable."
The suits are rooted in allegations that the sheriff’s department staff are not adequately trained to prevent or unwilling to effectively intervene in medical emergencies and inmate violence plaguing the county’s five jails. Another suit was filed in March, making similar allegations.
The three cases announced Thursday are among a series of suits filed or expected after Riverside County reported that last year was its deadliest ever behind bars. The department reported 18 deaths, which in part prompted the California Office of Attorney General to launch a civil rights investigation of Sheriff Chad Bianco’s department earlier this year.
"The raw data and the per capita data make clear that the Riverside County Jails are a death sentence for any pretrial detainee,” Contreras' fellow attorney, Denisse Gastélum, wrote in one complaint.
The attorney general’s office later released data including another person as having died in the custody of the sheriff, bringing last year's total to 19. The sheriff's department had not logged more than 12 deaths in a year since 2005, the earliest year for which records are publicly available. Last year’s death toll was also slightly higher than the number that triggered a state investigation in the more populous San Diego County the year before.
The attorneys say preliminary records show six of the deaths were due to overdose, two homicides, three suicides, four from natural causes and three still pending investigation. Seven of the 18 deaths were at the Cois M. Byrd Detention Center in Murrieta. The department has reported some 140 overdoses in its jails between November 2021 and 2022.
Six deaths have been reported this year.
The three lawsuits announced Thursday were filed against the county, the sheriff’s department, Bianco and department correctional administrators James Krachmer, David Holm and Edward Delgado, who also serves on the Moreno Valley City Council. Attorneys Gastélum and Contreras claim the department is liable for the wrongful deaths of the three due to medical malpractice, inadequate training, policy failures and more.
The suits also claim that the sheriff’s department failed to report the deaths to the California Department of Justice within ten days as required by law, a fact which was first reported by The Desert Sun last year. The attorneys say that the department then reported inaccurate information to deter civil suits being filed.
The three complaints allege Bianco’s public remarks disparaging the dead and the lawyers representing their families amount to harassment and his public statements that the deaths were out of anyone’s control amount to negligence.
Four deaths
Michael Vasquez, 20, died on May 26, 2022, after being in custody for only six days at the Murrieta jail. The department reported last year that Vasquez was found unresponsive in his cell and was given emergency medical treatment. He was pronounced dead just before 6 p.m. that day.
The suit was filed on behalf of Vasquez’s mother, Kathy Nigro, who expressed during the press conference the ongoing pain and unanswered questions she’s struggled with since her son died.
Gastélum and Contreras claim in the suit that Vasquez’s critical need for medical attention went unnoticed by jail staff because they did not conduct legally required safety and welfare checks.
Nigro told those gathered that she hopes the suit results in justice, and "more importantly, answers. I want proof so I can have closure."
Abel Chacon, 25, died on Aug. 25, 2022, while also incarcerated at the Murrieta jail. The department reported around the time of his death that a man was found unresponsive in his cell and was treated. He died just after 5 a.m.
The suit filed on behalf of his parents, Becky Shorty and Charles Chacon, claims he was found around 4:30 a.m. suffering a medical emergency. Gastélum and Contreras say the department’s staff did not find Chacon in time to save his life because it did not conduct safety checks as required by law and did not provide Chacon with adequate emergency medical care when he was found.
"We see ambulances out here on the street rushing to help people who need it," said Chacon's father, Charles. "There are medical staff in these buildings. Why did it take them so long to get to my son?"
Mario Solis, 31, died on Sept. 3, 2022, while also incarcerated at the Murrieta jail. The department reported after his death that a man was found unresponsive in his cell at 12:59 a.m. and despite emergency medical treatment was pronounced dead at 1:39 a.m.
The suit was filed on behalf of his mother, Sara Solis, who was not told of her son died until six days later. Mario Solis was arrested that April and underwent medical and psychological screening. Gastélum and Contreras claim that despite "obvious signs that Mr. Solis suffered from mental health issues" he was placed among the jail’s general population. For the next four months, the suit claims, he showed symptoms of severe mental illness. That August he was evaluated by the department and placed in a safety cell, which is required to have no objects that can be used for self harm.
But on Sept. 3, the lawsuit says, he was found unresponsive in his cell having ingested several foreign objects, including a pencil, toothbrush and two plastic bags with soap. The attorneys claim he was found dead and had been so for an “appreciable amount of time.”
His mother, Sara Solis, spoke to the crowd in Spanish, Contreras later interpreted her statements in English: "Ms. Solis is heartbroken. She said her son deserved respect. He was a human being and she wants justice."
Solis' brother, Hugo, similarly shared his pain, adding that he too wants to see evidence of what happened leading to the death of his brother.
"He was a troubled young man," Hugo Solis said. "But something isn't right. It took a week for them to tell us that he died. We just want to know the truth, to grieve and move on."
Attorney Dale Galipo filed another federal civil lawsuit against Riverside County on May 4 on behalf of the survivors of Robert Robinson, 41, who died on Sept. 7, 2022, after being in custody at the Robert Presley Detention Center in Riverside for only a day. The department reported at the time that jail employees responded to the cell of a man who was found unresponsive and attempted to treat him. He was pronounced dead at 7:26 p.m., according to a news release.
The suit similarly alleges Robinson’s wrongful death was a result of a lack of training and failure to get him emergency medical treatment in time. In addition to the county, it names as defendants correctional officers Yash Patel, Joshua Faneuff and Florin Blaj.
Galipo states in the complaint that despite Robinson making suicidal statements during booking, he was not placed on suicide watch. If he had been, Galipo wrote, he would have been placed in a cell where he could be clearly seen and monitored by deputies, who are required by law to check on suicidal inmates at 15 or 20 minute intervals.
Instead he was placed in a cell which had objects that he could use to harm himself and could not be completely seen by security cameras. His suicidal statements were dismissed by deputies, Galipo claims, and he was instead checked on every hour. He was last seen alive by deputies at 5:45 p.m. and was found at approximately 6:50 p.m. having hung himself with a bedsheet. Galipo said deputies did not use life-saving equipment, like an automated external defibrillator. Paramedics did, however, when they arrived later. The suits asks for unspecified damages.
Unifying each complaint, the lawyers' statements and the pain expressed by the relatives Thursday was a grim belief that those still incarcerated are not being provided with the safety required by law and may never get their day in court.
"The definition of a jail is a place for holding someone until they get a fair trial," Marissa Vasquez said. "My definition of a jail is a place that killed my brother before he could turn 21. It's a place that is not safe for any individual, period."
"And that needs to change," Vasquez told the crowd. "Chad Bianco's best isn't good enough."
Christopher Damien covers public safety and the criminal justice system. He can be reached at christopher.damien@desertsun.com or follow him at @chris_a_damien.
This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: More families sue Riverside County sheriff over jail deaths
