The county board could use its budget power to force change on the Sheriff’s Department. But it won’t step up even after years of grim headlines. The unusually high rate of deaths at San Diego County jails — more than 220 since 2006 — remains one of the most frustrating issues in local government. This concern is amplified by the very related concerns about officials in the Sheriff’s Department — and their enablers in county government — seeking to keep hidden ample evidence of their many jaw-dropping failings. Developments in recent weeks should make San Diegans wonder whether all the claims of department and county leaders to be focused on making things better are hollow spin at best. — On Feb. 28, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals kept intact a lower court ruling requiring the county to turn over findings from more than 20 internal Sheriff’s Department probes to lawyers suing over dangerous county jail practices. Even as court losses pile up, Sheriff Kelly Martinez and her de facto defenders on the Board of Supervisors continue to fight for the jail status quo and against transparency. — On March 22, the executive officer of the county’s Citizens’ Law Enforcement Review Board resigned in a decision he linked in an interview to frustration over the obstacles he faced. “I feel like I’m banging my head against the wall, and the county doesn’t seem to want to do anything to have true oversight,” Paul Parker said. — On March 31, a U-T Watchdog report detailed many basic problems with the main contractor delivering health care services in San Diego County jails. NaphCare failed to pay millions in bills to outside hospitals and other medical providers, used unlicensed staff and refused to make essential repairs. The problems mirror those seen by some of the other governments which hired the
Alabama corporation. Did the county do any due diligence — or just pick the low bidder? — This week, The San Diego Union-Tribune and CBS News 8 confirmed they had gone to federal court to try to force the county to end its cover-up of video and other evidence relating to the 2019 death of pregnant 24-year-old Elisa Serna when she was alone and apparently unmonitored in her cell in the Las Colinas women’s jail. With every passing month since much-criticized Sheriff Bill Gore’s abrupt resignation in early 2022, it becomes more clear the department’s dysfunction remains entrenched and seemingly unchallenged. Instead of blaming Gore or Martinez, the focus should be on county supervisors who could force change on the department through their power over its budget — if they had the spine and the resolve to finally say enough is enough.