Study to Reveal County Jail Deaths

San Diego County is about to air a new independent review of jail deaths that spans more than 12 years across all seven county detention facilities. (sandiegocounty.gov) The Citizens’ Law Enforcement Review Board, known as CLERB, said the report was completed by The Mountain-Whisper-Light: Statistics & Data Science and will be presented at a public meeting on May 7, 2026, at 5:30 p.m. in Room 310 of the County Administration Center on Pacific Highway. (sandiegocounty.gov) The study was commissioned after a February 3, 2022 California State Auditor report found that San Diego County’s jail system “failed to adequately prevent and respond” to deaths in custody. That audit counted 185 deaths from 2006 through 2020 and said the county had one of the highest jail-death totals in California. (auditor.ca.gov) That audit also said deficiencies in medical care, mental health care, and required visual safety checks likely contributed to deaths. It said CLERB failed to investigate nearly one-third of jail deaths over a 15-year period, leaving dozens of cases without outside review. (auditor.ca.gov) San Diego’s death toll kept rising after the audit period. A 2024-25 San Diego County Grand Jury report said there were 50 in-custody deaths from 2021 through 2023, nine more in 2024, and three in 2025 as of April 24, 2025, for 247 deaths since 2006. (sandiegocounty.gov) The new report is supposed to answer narrower questions the earlier reviews left open. CLERB said it examined risk factors that may make some incarcerated people more vulnerable to dying in custody, not just the overall death count. (sandiegocounty.gov) Those questions came from a 2022 Analytica Consulting study that flagged San Diego County jails for the highest number of unexplained deaths, the highest number of overdose or accidental deaths, and a high suicide risk compared with other California counties. CLERB later said the follow-up study would look at factors including mental illness, staffing, charging decisions, race, gender, age, and homelessness. (sandiegocounty.gov) The path to this report was slow. In a November 12, 2024 letter, CLERB told Sheriff Kelly Martinez that the Sheriff’s Office had insisted the board’s contractor seek data through California Public Records Act requests and that key records had been denied or delayed. (sandiegocounty.gov) The Sheriff’s Office said Tuesday that many recommendations in the new study have already been addressed or are underway. The department pointed to increased staffing, more mental health and treatment programming, doctors added to booking facilities in 2025, and a 65% drop in overdoses between 2024 and 2025. (sdsheriff.gov) Sheriff’s officials also said the report found a concentration of deaths at San Diego Central Jail, which they said handles more than half of all county jail bookings and faces heavier medical, behavioral health, homelessness, and drug-smuggling pressures than other facilities. (sdsheriff.gov) The next test is whether the May 7 presentation produces recommendations the county can measure in public. San Diego has spent four years under audit findings, grand jury warnings, and reform promises; now the county has a fresh set of numbers to answer for. (sandiegocounty.gov)