Opinion | California has failed to stop prison deaths

By David Myers, especially for CalMatters

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California has pledged accountability for prison deaths. What resulted was another failure dressed up as reform.

Senate Bill 519authored by then-Senator Tony Atkins, it was sold as a turning point. A state agency will finally review county jail deaths. Families were told transparency was coming. Supervision will be independent. Lessons would be learned.

Nearly a year after the law went into effect, the scorecard is damning: No reviews completed.

This is not a startup problem. This is a design failure rooted in concessions made by the bill’s sponsor, embraced by the state, and enabled by the attorney general’s silence.

The sponsor knew that sheriffs investigating deaths in their own jails were a conflict. That was the premise of the bill. But instead of building a watchdog with real authority, the final law kept the sheriff in control at every critical point.

In some California counties, the conflict is even more extreme. The sheriff-elect is also the medical examiner, the official who determines the cause and manner of death. The same office that runs the prison decides whether a death is accidental, natural, suicide or the result of force. This structure would be unacceptable in almost any other context. California allowed it to continue, even as it claimed it was solving the problem.

The country is new Death in Custody Inquest Unit may require entries. Can make recommendations. It cannot compel compliance. It cannot impose deadlines. Cannot sanction obstruction. These powers were stripped to ensure political comfort and support for law enforcement.

Even worse, the law allows for large-scale redactions. Sheriffs under control can still shape what the public sees. Transparency becomes conditional. Liability is negotiable.

The predictable result is paralysis. Reviews stall when agencies delay records. Nothing happens when they resist. The state shrugs. The Attorney General is silent.

Californians have seen this before. In San Diego County, the Law Enforcement Review Board dismissed roughly two dozen jail death cases without a review because it was too far behind. No findings. No accountability. Delay won.

SB 519 scales this failure nationwide. A supervisory system that crashes due to lag is not damaged. It works as designed.

The responsibility doesn’t stop with the sheriffs. The Legislature has weakened its own promise. The governor signed it. And the attorney general, charged with enforcing state laws, has failed to act when counties obstruct or ignore the process.

A law of supervision without enforcement breeds disobedience. The silence of the state’s top law enforcement official confirms it.

Families grieving loved ones they don’t need another task force. They need answers. Deputies working in dangerous prisons do not need platitudes. They need a change.

California did not fail for lack of knowledge. He failed for lack of courage. Failure to observe without consequences is theater. Theater does not save lives.

If the condition is serious, SB 519 should be fixed: Workable deadlines. Penalties for obstruction. Restrictions on editing. Mandatory escalation to the Attorney General. And an end to allowing sheriffs to police themselves while wearing the coroner’s badge.

Until then, California’s promise of transparency remains empty. Another law. Another delay. Another system that protects institutions while people die.

This article was originally published on CalMatters and is republished under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivatives license.