By Kelly Davis | [email protected] | The San Diego Union-Tribune
Supervisor Monica Montgomery Steppe on Monday renewed her call for stronger oversight of San Diego County jails, saying the current system falls short because it does not include oversight of medical and mental health staff.
She also pushed back on a recent memo from Sheriff Kelly Martinez that asked the Board of Supervisors to delay a vote on Montgomery Steppe's proposal to expand the authority of the Citizens' Law Enforcement Review Board, or CLERB, to investigate the actions of jail medical and mental health staff following an in-custody death.
Currently, CLERB can only investigate whether sworn law enforcement personnel violated policy or engaged in misconduct.
Martinez wrote that while she believes there should be "accountability and an emphasis on improvement and prevention," granting CLERB the ability to investigate doctors, nurses and mental health providers who staff San Diego's seven jails would have "a chilling effect on the jail healthcare system."
She asked supervisors to instead consider a third-party expert like the Correctional Health Oversight Unit, which she described as an arm of Los Angeles County's Office of Inspector General and as a "national example of independent, clinically informed correctional oversight."
But that OIG, which monitors the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, has no such unit.
When asked about the reference to the nonexistent entity, the San Diego Sheriff's Office acknowledged the error but did not explain how it happened -- or what prompted the sheriff to wholeheartedly endorse a jail oversight model that has no track record.
On Monday, Montgomery Steppe declined to comment on the gaffe but said she is open to any suggestions for improving local jails.
She said she would not amend or withdraw her proposal to expand CLERB's authority.
"If there is a genuine desire to change the way that we provide physical and mental health within the jail system, then I am here for that," she said. "My priority is to improve transparency and to build accountability that has historically been missing from these systems."
In her memo, Martinez implied that only professional healthcare providers were equipped to evaluate performances by jail medical and mental health staff.
CLERB Chair MaryAnne Pintar said the civilian review board will have the resources to bring in outside specialists when necessary.
"CLERB is not trying to make the work of the Sheriff's Office harder, we're trying to make it better -- and make our jails safer," she said. "We want to save lives and protect families from the broken hearts we hear about at every one of our meetings."
The county is currently defending at least 19 lawsuits over people's deaths in jail and has paid out tens of millions of dollars in settlements of such suits in recent years. Montgomery Steppe said that alone underscores the need for stronger oversight -- and alternatives for people experiencing a mental health crisis or addiction.
"Jail is not the place for people struggling with trauma, addiction or housing insecurity," she said. "It is a failure of policy and imagination that we continue to treat public health issues as criminal matters."
Two years ago, Martinez announced a multi-year plan to upgrade county jails. While the plan didn't carve out space for treatment beds, Martinez seems to be re-evaluating this option.
"In the absence of a secure, hospital-level mental health facility, our jails have become the region's largest mental health provider by default -- not by design. This is a public-health failure, not a criminal justice solution," a Sheriff's Office spokesperson recently told The San Diego Union-Tribune.
Montgomery Steppe said she understands the sheriff's frustration.
"If there is a genuine interest in supporting decentralizing the role of jails in treating behavioral health, then let's work together on that," she said.
The Board of Supervisors is expected to consider Montgomery Steppe's proposal next month.