DOJ says San Luis Obispo Jail Authorities Violate Inmates' Constitutional Rights by Failing to Provide medical/mental health care and Using Excessive Force with Impunity

From [HERE] The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) released the results of a three-year investigation into the San Luis Obispo County Jail on Aug. 31, concluding that the jail violates the constitutional rights of inmates on several fronts, including by failing to provide adequate medical and mental health care and by using excessive force with impunity.

Sparked in 2018 by the high-profile inmate death of Andrew Holland, who spent 46 hours strapped to a restraint chair before dying of a pulmonary embolism, the DOJ's civil rights investigation found specific and systemic violations at the jail—and called on SLO County to cooperate on reforms or face a federal lawsuit.

"After a comprehensive investigation, we found that the San Luis Obispo Jail harms the people it incarcerates," Kristen Clarke, assistant attorney general of the DOJ's Civil Rights Division, said in a statement.

The DOJ investigation detailed dozens of examples of alleged violations at the SLO County Jail between 2016 and 2019, which highlight sweeping failures in the areas of medical care, mental health care, excessive force, prolonged restrictive housing, and compliance with ADA (Americans with Disability Act) laws. A few examples include:

• Before jail custody staff strapped Holland to a restraint chair in January 2017, the Sheriff's Office held the 36-year-old with schizophrenia in isolation for approximately 16 months, and did not deliver him involuntary medication as required by a court.

• In April 2017, an inmate with hypertension died of a heart attack after the jail gave him high doses of ibuprofen and ignored his complaints of chest pain and other symptoms.

• In September 2018, an inmate committed suicide after a court ordered a mental health evaluation, which never took place.

• In December 2018, a deputy grabbed an unresisting inmate from behind and pushed him headfirst into a wall, causing him to bleed, after he'd yelled at the deputy from a "caged area." The deputy claimed in an incident report that the inmate "fell forward" into the wall.

• In January 2019, an inmate diagnosed with hepatitis C was never provided treatment during the 18 months of his remaining sentence.

• In April 2019, an inmate who tested positive for HIV did not see a specialist or receive medication for nearly three months.

The DOJ's report, which thanked SLO County for its cooperation in the investigation, added that many of the constitutional violations persisted even after the county invested in jail improvements in 2018 and 2019, which included outsourcing jail health care services to a private firm, Wellpath.

"Although the jail added the chief medical officer position and switched medical providers two years after [Holland's] death, medical care under Wellpath has not significantly improved," the investigation stated. [MORE]