DOJ: Conditions at SLO County Jail violate constitution
LOS ANGELES – The United States Department of Justice says conditions at the San Luis Obispo County Jail violate the U.S. Constitution.
The DOJ says the jail has failed to provide adequate medical care and subjected some prisoners to excessive use of force.
The findings were released in a Justice Department report that called for the jail to make changes to address the violations, which it says may violate the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments in addition to the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).
Federal investigators concluded that there is reasonable cause to believe the jail does not provide proper medical or mental health care to its prisoners, limits prisoners with serious mental illness to "prolonged use of restrictive housing" and violates constitutional rights of prisoners through excessive force. The report also states that the jail denys prisoners with mental health disabilities access to activities, programs and others services because of their disabilities.
“Our Constitution guarantees that all people held in jails and prisons across our country are treated humanely, and that includes providing access to necessary medical and mental health care,” said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “After a comprehensive investigation, we found that the San Luis Obispo Jail harms the people it incarcerates by subjecting them to excessive force and by failing to provide adequate medical and mental health care. The Justice Department hopes to continue to work with the jail to resolve these systemic problems.”
The United States Attorney’s Office and the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division initiated the investigation in October 2018.
In January 2017, Andrew Holland died in the jail after he was held in a restraining chair for more than 46 hours. Holland struggled with mental illness throughout his life and was ruled incompetent to stand trial but was held in the jail due to a lack of beds at a psychiatric facility. Holland's family was awarded a $5 million settlement in his death. His death led to massive public outcry and calls for county officials to resign.
“Our office is dedicated to defending the civil rights of everyone in this district, including those behind bars,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Tracy L. Wilkison in a news release.
As required by law, the jail has been provided with a list of findings and steps to address these issues, the DOJ said.
Anyone with information about the investigation is encouraged to contact the Justice Department by phone at 844-710-4900 or by email.
The San Luis Obispo County Sheriff's Office acknowledged the report issued by the DOJ and said recognized the issues brought forth in the report. The sheriff's office said it has already taken multiple steps to address these issues when the investigation began in 2018.
"The Sheriff's Office has worked cooperatively with the Department of Justice over the past three years to investigate deficiencies and determine appropriate improvements to ensure our Jail facility is fully compliant with federal law," said SLO Sheriff Ian Parkinson. "We are pleased with our progress so far and will continue to work diligently to provide a safe and secure Jail facility.”
To read the entire statement from the SLO Sheriff's Office, click here.
