A federal judge in San Diego has denied a request from attorneys in a class-action lawsuit to bar the Sheriff\u2019s Office from housing people with serious mental illness in administrative separation, a form of solitary confinement.<\/p>\n
The request for a preliminary injunction was filed in federal court in October, after two men died in administrative separation.<\/p>\n
Lawyers representing people in San Diego County jail custody\u00a0in the case known as Dunsmore v. San Diego County<\/a> asked the court to limit the sheriff\u2019s use of administrative separation to 72 hours. They provided more than a dozen sworn declarations from people who\u2019d been housed in administrative separation in San Diego jails.<\/p>\n The declarations described getting little to no mental health treatment, and almost no human contact. They described trash piling up and toilets regularly overflowing, causing a foul stench and filthy conditions.<\/p>\n In his ruling, Judge Anthony Battaglia said plaintiffs failed to prove why the injunction was immediately needed.<\/p>\n \u201cPlaintiff has not established a causal link between the recent deaths (or any prior deaths) and defendants\u2019 alleged policy or practice failures,\u201d he wrote in his 24-page ruling.<\/p>\n \u201cInstead, plaintiffs assume that deaths occurred because of deficient policies, including the use of ad-sep, and that individuals in ad-sep necessarily decompensate due to inadequate clinical care,\u201d he added. \u201cThat is a significant overstatement.\u201d<\/p>\n The Sheriff\u2019s Office has made significant and continuing efforts to improve conditions\u00a0in county jails, Battaglia wrote.<\/p>\n \u201cAlthough it could be argued that defendants should be making greater changes, or that changes should be implemented more quickly, the record reflects ongoing, concrete efforts to address mental health risks,\u201d the ruling says.<\/p>\n There are currently some 250 people detained in ad-sep, about 6% of the jail system\u2019s population. Some have been there for months. One man who submitted a declaration said he\u2019d been housed in administrative separation for more than four years.<\/p>\n The Dunsmore attorneys requested the injunction three months after Corey Dean died covered in his own feces in a Vista jail cell and Karim Talib was found dead in similar conditions at the Central Jail.<\/p>\n Dean had a history of mental illness, and Talib had dementia. Both men died after deputies and jail medical staff repeatedly ignored their pleas for help<\/a>, according to lawsuits<\/a> filed<\/a> recently by their families and sworn testimony from men in nearby cells.<\/p>\n \u201cThe day after Mr. Talib entered Unit 7\/E, the entire unit began to smell like feces,\u201d\u00a0Maurice Vasquez wrote in his declaration. \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 The Dunsmore attorneys argued in the petition for an injunction that keeping seriously mentally ill people in isolation for 23 hours a day or more is dangerous, leading them to become safety risks to themselves or others.<\/p>\n \u201cPeople with mental illness housed in solitary confinement are vulnerable to deterioration and decompensation of their mental health condition,\u201d they wrote. \u201cPlacing such individuals in isolation intensifies their symptoms and puts them at substantial risk of psychosis, self-harm and suicide.\u201d<\/p>\n San Diego County opposed the request, pointing out that Sheriff Kelly Martinez has made numerous changes to policy and practice\u00a0since she was sworn in three years ago.<\/p>\n The county offered testimony from several jail officials who said that\u00a0people in administrative separation are closely monitored and that deputies are trained to respond when help is needed \u2014 evidence the judge relied on in his ruling.<\/p>\n \u201cDuring wellness checks, safety checks or any rounds in the housing units, including ad-sep, if a deputy, sergeant or other sworn staff observes an incarcerated person who appears disheveled or un-showered, interventions are made to offer mental health services, provide hygienic opportunities and clean the housing space,\u201d Battaglia wrote.<\/p>\n Battaglia cited a sworn declaration by Jesse Johns, commander of the Detention Services Bureau, who wrote that when anyone \u201chas evident feces in their cell and\/or flooding of their cell with water, it is protocol to remove the Incarcerated Person to another location temporarily (such as a shower) while the cell is cleaned and a change of bedding\/clothing is provided before rehousing him\/her.\u201d<\/p>\n State regulations require that people in administrative separation receive 10 hours of out-of-cell time every week. That includes at least seven hours of dayroom time and three hours in an exercise area.<\/p>\n But nearly every\u00a0person who submitted a declaration to the court said they are rarely granted that much time outside their cell.<\/p>\n Even when they are let out of their cells, it is often late at night or early morning, making it difficult for them to contact their family members, attorneys or others, they said.<\/p>\n County lawyers also questioned findings from one of the plaintiffs\u2019 expert witnesses, correctional health professional Pablo Stewart. Stewart visited three county jails in 2024 and found major lapses<\/a> in medical and mental health care.<\/p>\n \u201cConditions in the San Diego County jails\u2019 administrative separation units are among the harshest and most restrictive forms for solitary confinement I have ever seen in over 35 years of practice,\u201d Stewart wrote in his evaluation.<\/p>\n The county\u2019s expert, Joseph Penn, a psychiatrist and clinical professor at the University of Texas medical school in Galveston, challenged Stewart\u2019s qualifications and questioned whether he had ever been directly responsible for psychiatric care in a jail or prison.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is my opinion that (Stewart) is not qualified to render the opinions in his report, and that his opinions are devoid of any sound methodology,\u201d the ruling quotes Penn as saying.<\/p>\n