Nearly 250 people have died while in the custody of the Riverside County Sheriff’s Office (RSO) since 2011, a new report published earlier this month by CARE First California and the Riverside Sheriff Accountability Coalition (RSAC) found.
“I don’t think that they’re taking it as seriously as it should be taken, because we shouldn’t have numbers like that,” Lisa Matus said in an interview with The Record. “Somebody’s not doing their job.”
According to the report, in-custody deaths have increased 133% since 2011 in Riverside County, despite jail populations remaining relatively stable, with an average of 19 deaths reported per year.
“This is a Riverside-San Bernardino problem, and it’s impacting our community much more deeply than it is, possibly, the community in Los Angeles, which is already bad,” Mary Valdemar said in an interview with The Record. “So, for me, it was shocking [to see], but also in line with the other trends we see across all social justice issues.”
The sheriff’s office declined multiple requests for an interview about the report, instead sharing a video posted to its YouTube channel in which Sheriff Chad Bianco said law enforcement agencies across the nation were seeing an increase in in-custody deaths.
“We believe that it had something to do with the pandemic, with everyone being locked down, with everyone really, the increase in drugs, and certainly the increase in the use of fentanyl has contributed to not only the mental health issues that we have across the country, but also the overdoses and the deaths that we have had that increased all across the country outside of corrections,” he said in the Aug. 2 video. “And, somehow, we are expected inside corrections to not have those same increases.”
Bianco also chastised local media outlets for what he called “misinformation” about in-custody deaths and the ACLU and community groups for what he considered to be “frivolous complaints.” He also called out California Attorney General Rob Bonta for launching an investigation into the department.
“It is actually a disgrace to law enforcement, that the head of law enforcement in California would actually make those allegations, that he absolutely knows, 100% unequivocally, are false,” Bianco said. “He knows that is false, and yet he did it in a publicity stunt with the ACLU and these pro-inmate activists who want everyone to believe that we’re doing something wrong.”
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Bianco said the department does everything it can to keep safe those who are incarcerated, but for family members of those who died while in custody, that statement rings hollow.
“The majority of all of those deaths could have been prevented, but they didn’t do anything,” Matus said in an interview with The Record. “So it is their negligence.”
Matus’ son, Richard, died in 2022 while awaiting trial at Cois M. Byrd Detention Center in Murrieta at the age of 29. According to the report, 93% of the in-custody deaths in Riverside County happened before a person’s case was resolved.
On the same day the report was released, community members and civil rights advocates rallied at the Riverside County Board of Supervisors meeting, calling for additional oversight of the sheriff’s office.
“It is imperative that you open your hearts through holding these institutions accountable, whether it be an oversight commission, mental health and rehabilitation resources and, ultimately, true transparency of what goes on inside those walls that we do not see,” Luca Rudenstine said during the Oct. 1 meeting. “And more so it should not be the responsibility of the families that have been impacted to try to figure out what has happened as a result of the deaths of their loved ones, but it’s up to them to guide and establish how we will continue and how you all can continue to properly hold these institutions accountable.”
Rudenstine is a student at Pitzer College in Claremont who was connected with community organizers through a community-based education and cultural immersion program offered by her college.
“I’ve never given public comment before,” Rudenstine said in an interview with The Record. “That was my first time giving public comment and [having] a sense of finding a bit of agency as a student, as someone observing this who has the privilege of, in some ways, being really far removed and outside of it, and knowing that that’s something that is necessary to use as a form of support.”
Ultimately, the advocates said they wanted to see more transparency and accountability as a result of the report.
“It’s time to act,” Candace Cortez, Richard’s sister, said at the Oct. 1 meeting. “And we, as family members who have lost loved ones and members of this community, demand accountability.”
As for the authors of the report, their hope is for a future where justice is “grounded in collective care, not retribution.”
A written statement provided to The Record from the county said the officials were in the process of reviewing the data presented in the report.
“Preserving the health and safety of inmates in our care and custody is a priority for all of us – the Board of Supervisors, the Sheriff’s Department, the Correctional and Detention Health teams and the Executive Office,” the statement said. “Identifying and improving our response is a consistent focus for the county and, together, we are committed to finding and funding necessary resources, safeguards and innovative solutions.”
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