New California jail monitor goes on the road to hear about in-custody deaths

After nearly three years of historically high numbers of deaths in California jails large and small, the state board that oversees them is hosting a listening session on Saturday in San Diego County, home to one of the state’s deadliest jail systems. 

Allison Ganter, the new director of in-custody death reviews at the Board of State and Community Corrections, will host the sessions. A second one is planned for Sacramento in January. Ganter’s office has so far declined interview requests from CalMatters. 

Until last year, the board was not even notified about every death inside the county-run lockups, and a 2021 State Auditor’s report criticized the board for failing to enforce its own rules and standards on mental health checks and in-cell wellness checks of inmates.

The state has begun to take a somewhat stronger role in investigating deaths. The oversight board has pledged to conduct more surprise investigations of jails, and Ganter’s position was created through legislation last year. 

Jail deaths peaked in 2022, when 215 people died in California jails, nearly all of them awaiting trial. Tulare, San Diego, Kern, Riverside and San Bernardino counties’ jails had a record number of deaths that year. 

Jail deaths have been a particular area of concern in San Diego, where the head of the jail’s civilian review board quit in frustration earlier this year. 

Since then, the county board of supervisors voted to give its civilian review board more power to investigate jail deaths, and mandated that the sheriff’s office prioritize those death investigations. 

The first listening session is scheduled to take place in Escondido at 4 p.m. on Saturday at the North Inland Live Well Center, 649 West Mission Ave. No. 1.

The second is scheduled to take place in Sacramento at 4 p.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 15 at the Board of State and Community Corrections, 2590 Venture Oaks Way.

More information on the listening sessions, including how to watch them online, is available at https://www.bscc.ca.gov/in-custody-death-review-division/.