An inmate at the Santa Rita Jail being held on a parole violation died last month, nearly a week after attempting suicide in his cell, according to an attorney for the man’s family.
Leonard Brown, 36, was found during a routine inmate check, not breathing in his cell after an apparent suicide attempt March 9, according to Alameda County Sheriff’s Lt. Ray Kelly. He was taken to a hospital in Pleasanton after jail staff managed to revive him, but died on March 15.
He had been held on behalf of the U.S. Marshals Service, Kelly said. Further details of his incarceration were not available Thursday, and a review was underway into the circumstances surrounding his death.
Brown marks at least the 58th person since 2014 to die either at Santa Rita, or after a medical episode at the facility in Dublin, according to records by the California Department of Justice and the sheriff’s office. His death comes amid longstanding concerns about conditions at the jail, which has faced repeated lawsuits by the relatives of people who have died there, claiming the staff — both from the sheriff’s office which runs the jail, and from private medical care providers — is poorly trained and incapable of adequately caring for inmates.
Earlier this year, a federal judge approved a sweeping settlement to improve mental health care at Santa Rita, and to 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.
Yolanda Huang, an Oakland civil rights attorney, said Brown’s death suggested that problems continue to persist at the facility.
“The jail is incapable as its set up of providing and caring of the people in its custody,” Huang said. “People who are mentally ill do not belong in that jail. And they should be moved to someplace where they can get the care that they need.”
Kelly, the sheriff’s spokesman, called Brown’s death “terrible,” and said the sheriff’s office is doing all it can to help people suffering from mental illness, and to keep people from harming themselves at Santa Rita.
“We do everything in our power to try to prevent suicides,” Kelly said. “We have to try to do as much direct supervision as we can. But the only way to 100% prevent suicides would be to physically assign one deputy to one inmate 24 hours a day.”
If you or someone you know is struggling with feelings of depression or suicidal thoughts, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline offers free, round-the-clock support, information and resources for help. Reach the lifeline at 800-273-8255.
Source: www.mercurynews.com