Re “Over sheriff’s objections, county supervisors vote to expand civilian jail oversight board’s authority” (Sept. 9): It is wild that Sheriff Martinez now wants San Diego County to spend taxpayer dollars on an “independent and comprehensive assessment of the quality and effectiveness of health care services delivered within the jail.” That’s already happened — remember the California state auditor’s 2022 report on the failures of the Sheriff’s Office?
It literally caused her predecessor, Sheriff Bill Gore, to resign. That audit already outlined several ways the sheriff could improve medical and mental health within San Diego detention facilities — the very preventive measures she now says she’d like to focus on. She could be implementing those right now, and yet, in many cases, she hasn’t.
We don’t need more expensive studies. We know the path forward. We simply need a sheriff who will take in-custody jail deaths seriously and act.
— Deidre McLeod, Carmel Mountain Ranch