detainee

California’s attorney general last year opened an ongoing civil rights investigation into the increase in deaths in custody, and Riverside County agreed to pay more than $12 million to settle lawsuits linked to detainee deaths going back to 2020.

The news organizations also reviewed court documents, including arrest records, detainee medical and mental health records, and department notes on jail housing decisions.

One detainee in 2022, who told guards that he was suicidal, was cleared after a medical check to return to his cell without any suicide-watch protocol.

Earlier this year, a man hanged himself while another detainee tried to alert jail guards but couldn’t get their attention.

He spent significant time in isolation after he was charged with killing another detainee in 2020.