A federal lawsuit claims a woman overdosed on fentanyl last year at the Santa Rita jail — a stark example, it alleges, of inept and poorly trained guards failing to catch people smuggling drugs inside the facility.
The lawsuit, which was filed this week against Alameda County, Sheriff Gregory Ahern and dozens of his staff members, blames longstanding negligence and a lack of contraband training for the death last year of Lee Esther Anderson. She was found unresponsive inside her cell on May 16, and she later died despite efforts by the jail’s staff to revive her.
Before her death, Anderson also penned two letters complaining of animal and insect feces in her food, dangerous living conditions, a lack of COVID-19 protocols and poorly trained jail staff members, the lawsuit said.
The suit lambasted the sheriff’s office for “inadequate mental health care, inhumane living conditions, and an inadequate drug search policy all resulting from a deliberate indifference to the inmates’ safety.”
Ray Kelly, a spokesman for the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office, declined to comment directly on the lawsuit and Anderson’s case, citing the fact that it’s ongoing litigation. He also pointed to a criminal probe underway regarding the woman suspected of smuggling in the fentanyl.
An independent autopsy found Anderson died of “cardiopulmonary arrest complicated by underlying heart disease and fentanyl use,” the lawsuit said. She had been serving time for a “minor offense,” and she was set to be released in April 2022, the lawsuit said. It did not provide further details about her incarceration.
The Alameda County coroner’s office declined Wednesday to release information on Anderson’s death, indicating there is a hold on the autopsy findings.
The allegations in the lawsuit add to longstanding concerns of harsh and dangerous conditions at the 3,500-person jail, particularly for inmates suffering from mental illness. A report last year by the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division found the jail failed to property care for mentally ill inmates, especially those who were suicidal. And it cited several violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act related to the jail’s lack of mental health treatment options.
Last month, a federal judge approved a sweeping settlement to improve mental health care at the jail and address complaints of “excessive use of isolation, providing an insufficient amount of out-of-cell time and programming, inadequate classification systems, and a lack of due process protections,” among other concerns.
At issue in Anderson’s case are allegations of rampant drug smuggling.
The lawsuit alleges systemic failures on the part of jail deputies to properly screen new inmates for drugs. Anderson’s family claimed that a fellow inmate, who was arrested during a traffic stop for an outstanding warrant, smuggled fentanyl into the jail a month before Anderson was found unresponsive in her cell.
“These policies are carried out with deliberate indifference to the constitutional rights of inmates and their families,” and the sheriff’s staff members “were not adequately trained on the proper procedure for screening inmates, staff, and other visitors for drugs and other contraband,” the lawsuit alleges.
It also claims that Anderson, who was Black, was among many minorities to die at the jail. The suit took aim at “a policy, custom and practice of discriminating against African-American women,” one that especially affected “those who publicly air grievances regarding jail conditions.”
Kelly said attempts to smuggle drugs into the jail are a “major problem” that is affecting jails across California. A program to train deputies on how to use Narcan — which can quickly reverse the effects of an opioid overdose, such as one caused by fentanyl — has saved more than a dozen lives, Kelly said.
He added that the jail conducts searches of people being booked into custody, and that it’s also using drug-sniffing dogs to find contraband. The sheriff’s office also is looking into purchasing body scanners similar to those found at airports, to better detect drugs making their way into the jail, Kelly said.
“We’re taking a lot of extra measures to combat that,” Kelly said. He also said everyone is treated equally at the jail, regardless of race.
Source: www.mercurynews.com