Just four weeks ago, Corey Dean banged his fists and yelled for help for days, without being treated by San Diego County jail deputies or medical staff, before the mentally ill man died alone in his Vista jail cell.<\/p>\n
When deputies pulled Dean from his cell, his body and mattress were covered in feces, according to sworn declarations<\/a> filed in San Diego federal court.<\/p>\n Now it has happened again.<\/p>\n Three men in custody at the San Diego Central Jail have described another man who was repeatedly ignored by deputies and medical staff before he was found dead.<\/p>\n In sworn declarations filed this week in San Diego federal court, the men said they warned deputies and medical staff in the days before Karim Talib\u2019s July 28 death that he badly needed help. What they describe suggests Talib suffered from mental illness or cognitive decline.<\/p>\n \u201cThe day after Mr. Talib entered Unit 7\/E, the entire unit began to smell like feces,\u201d Maurice Vasquez wrote<\/a>. \u201cOther incarcerated persons in the unit were yelling that they were concerned that the new person who had entered the unit was unwell.\u201d<\/p>\n Vasquez said he repeatedly told deputies and medical staff Talib needed treatment, but no help came.<\/p>\n Meal trays stacked up for days, uneaten. Medications delivered multiple times a day piled up, untaken.<\/p>\n \u201cOnce I was in the dayroom, I went to Mr. Talib\u2019s cell and observed him lying down with his eyes open and his diaper filled with fecal matter,\u201d Vasquez said. \u201cThere was so much fecal matter that the diaper had slid below Mr. Talib\u2019s buttocks.<\/p>\n \u201cMr. Talib looked like he was dead,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n A Sheriff\u2019s Office spokesperson declined to comment on either case. But he emphasized the challenges jails face in treating people with serious medical and mental health needs.<\/p>\n \u201cIn the absence of a secure, hospital-level mental health facility, our jails have become the region\u2019s largest mental health provider by default \u2014 not by design,\u201d Lt. David Collins said by email. \u201cThis is a public-health failure, not a criminal justice solution.\u201d<\/p>\n Two years ago, Sheriff Kelly Martinez announced a 10-year, $500 million plan<\/a> to upgrade local jails. Most of that money would be spent to replace the Vista Detention Facility, which opened in 1970.<\/p>\n In an interview<\/a> with The San Diego Union-Tribune last October, Martinez said her office looked into adapting one of the county\u2019s jails to provide a higher level of medical and mental health care but found it really wasn\u2019t possible.<\/p>\n \u201cWe just weren\u2019t able to make that work with the way the system has to work, and people going to court, and where we have to hold them,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n But Collins suggested Martinez might be rethinking such a facility. He described \u201ca renewed focus on understanding the need for a secure mental health facility.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cSheriff Martinez is committed to preventing all deaths but must be given the tools required to do the job,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n The Union-Tribune reached out to all five members of the county Board of Supervisors \u2014 which lacks direct oversight of the sheriff but does control her $1.2 billion budget \u2014 for comment on the troubling details about Dean\u2019s and Talib\u2019s final days.<\/p>\n Only board vice chair Monica Montgomery Steppe responded.<\/p>\n \u201cEvery person in our custody deserves to be treated with basic human dignity,\u201d she said in an emailed statement. \u201cFor far too long, there have been clear and repeated calls to improve how we care for individuals in our jails. Those calls must now be answered with concrete reforms, improved oversight and sustained investment in care and support services.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have a moral obligation to get this right, and I remain fully committed to using every tool at my disposal to prevent further harm in our facilities,\u201d she wrote.<\/p>\n Since 2006, at least 251 people have died in San Diego County jails. After a high of 19 deaths in 2022 and a critical state audit<\/a>, the number of in-custody deaths dipped, with nine deaths recorded last year and 13 in 2023.<\/p>\n Talib was the seventh person to die in a San Diego County jail this year.<\/p>\n The deaths do more than cause grief for decedents\u2019 families and traumatize the incarcerated people who witness them. They have cost tens of millions of dollars in lawsuits and legal settlements \u2014 taxpayer money that could otherwise be spent on parks, libraries or even improving jails.<\/p>\n San Diego County is currently defending at least 19 lawsuits that are likely to result in millions more dollars in payments to plaintiffs\u2019 families.<\/p>\n The new declarations were filed as part of a class-action lawsuit<\/a> against the county over conditions in its jails. That case has already resulted in a partial settlement over the jail\u2019s treatment of disabled people, but its claims alleging deficiencies in medical and mental health care are still being litigated.<\/p>\n