Los Angeles County officials will launch an investigation into the soaring rate of deaths among people incarcerated in Los Angeles County jails, the Board of Supervisors voted on Tuesday, May 13.

The Sheriff’s Department, as well as correctional authorities and county health officials, will draw up a plan that implements new ways to reduce the number of inmate deaths. The county’s auditor-controller will audit the corrective plans, including investigating the reasons for deaths in jails from 2020 to the present, according to a board motion approved by a 5-0 vote.

“We have already doubled the number of in-custody deaths” during the same amount of time last year, said Supervisor Janice Hahn, who authored the motion. She said a week ago an inmate died while in custody, the 20th death this year. The number of deaths are on pace to surpass the 30 deaths during all of 2024.

“These numbers were shocking to me,” Hahn said. “The aim of this motion is to make sure we understand what is driving this increase and that we address it at a systemic level.”

Marcella Rosen, with the group JusticeLA, told the board this has been the deadliest two years on record in L.A. County jails. She cited the  recent death of an individual who was 23 years old.

“It really is a life or death issue in this community,” said Janet Asante, with the JusticeLA coalition. She mentioned a group of mothers who camped out in front of Men’s Central Jail on Mother’s Day. “Because that is where they lost their sons,” Asante said.

The Sheriff’s Department operates nine jail facilities, including Men’s Central Jail, Century Regional Detention Facility, Twin Towers Correctional Facility and North County Correctional Facility.

This year, the county jails are seeing more people die while in custody than in previous years, Hahn wrote in her motion. “The county must prioritize dignity and life in the county jails for the thousands who are incarcerated,” the motion concluded.

Despite a historically lowered jail population and increased staffing, the number of jail deaths continue to rise, the board reported. The average population of inmates is 12,428 each day. That’s down from 17,070 in 2017.

“In the first 14 weeks of the year, 16 incarcerated people died, including three in one day,” the motion reported.

Too many of those incarcerated are struggling with mental health issues and do not get the proper treatment, said many who testified at the board meeting.

Omar Aguirre, father of 22-year-old Maxwell Aguirre, a U.S. Air Force veteran who hung himself while incarcerated at Twin Towers, nearly broke down telling the supervisors what happened.

Omar Aguirre filed a lawsuit against the county, saying the sheriff deputies did not adequately monitor his son or conduct proper suicide watches, according to an article published in the Los Angeles Public Press.

“There is no way to mitigate jail deaths while we are still incarcerating those with mental health issues who need help,” said Allison Rubinfeld of the Check The Sheriff Coalition, just before the vote.

Reports from county agencies, and an ACLU report and lawsuit, pointed out problems with deaths and poor conditions for the last several years. Eventually, the ACLU became the court-appointed monitor for poor conditions inside the county’s jail system. Many advocacy groups have called for more care teams, and less incarceration.

This comes after a 2021 vote by the supervisors to close Men’s Central Jail. That has not happened, with some citing a need for mental health beds in a substitute care-based facility.

Some enter the jails with substance abuse problems, or after time in the jail they end up using illicit drugs. Many in custody are awaiting trials and have not been convicted of a crime.

The supervisor’s motion theorized that illegal drugs that are more potent than in the past — such as fentanyl, a powerful opioid — are flowing past the guards into the county jail system, leading to more inmate drug overdoses.

The motion reported that one study found 63% of those serving sentences in county jails met the criteria for a substance abuse problem.

In response, the county Department of Health Services (DHS) has hired more nurses and mental health clinicians to work inside the jails, said Dr. Christina Ghaly, who heads the DHS.

She hopes the report that comes back in about three months will help her agency create new care options and ways to fund them. She said DHS would like to put in place a primary care home model. Currently, each inmate has to fill out a form to request medical care.

“We are lacking a comprehensive plan for in-custody deaths,” Hahn said. “This motion develops that plan so we can see where we need to do better. These are human beings behind these numbers.”