San Diego sheriff’s deputies contributed to the death of James Bousman last year by failing to keep drugs out of the Vista Detention Facility, a civilian oversight board has concluded.
In an unusual finding last week, the Citizens’ Law Enforcement Review Board said the Sheriff’s Department was at least partly responsible for Bousman’s deadly overdose in jail on July 27, 2022, because he acquired the fentanyl that killed him while he was in the sheriff’s custody.
“Despite all interdiction efforts, fentanyl contributed to Bousman’s death and therefore this death was preventable,” the review board’s investigation concluded. “The evidence indicated that the (sheriff’s department) failed to prevent illicit drugs from entering the detention facility and that act or conduct was not justified.”
Bousman, who was 23, had been arrested by Oceanside police on a felony probation violation and suspicion of resisting arrest in March 2022. He had a history of illegal drug use and other unspecified medical conditions, investigators said.
He was found unconscious inside his cell about 40 minutes after he provided a verbal and physical response to a deputy conducting a required safety check.
“The cause of death was complications of resuscitated cardiopulmonary arrest due to acute fentanyl intoxication and the manner of death was (an) accident,” the review board said in its report.
Spokesperson Lt. David LaDieu said in a statement that the sheriff appreciates the work the review board does to keep people in custody safe.
“The CLERB findings in the case you mentioned have also highlighted and recognized all of the updates and enhancements made in our effort to prevent drugs from entering our jails,” he wrote.
“The new programs have undoubtedly prevented a large amount of drugs from entering our jails which have in turn saved lives.”
The misconduct finding comes as Sheriff Kelly Martinez continues to resist recommendations from watchdog groups that her department scan deputies on their way into work to help keep illegal drugs out of county jails.
It also comes one month after the Bousman family filed a federal lawsuit against San Diego County alleging that sheriff’s officials know about, tolerate and in some cases profit from illegal drug sales inside its jails.
The Bousman lawsuit was the second federal complaint filed last month accusing sheriff’s officials and deputies of knowing about or participating in the drug trade behind bars.
The county has a “longstanding custom and practice of condoning and/or otherwise failing to prevent its deputy sheriffs/custodial officers/special officers/other jail personnel from bringing dangerous narcotic drugs like fentanyl and methamphetamine into the San Diego County jails,” the lawsuit alleges.
Sheriff’s officials rejected the assertions included in the Bousman complaint, and the similar claim filed earlier last month by relatives of Leonel Villasenor, who died in his Central Jail cell last year.
“No evidence has been brought forward to show that any sheriff staff have been involved in providing narcotics to individuals in our custody,” LaDieu said at the time. “We actively investigate every case of drugs brought into the jail.”
The sheriff’s department says as many as 80 percent of people in custody were using drugs at the time they were arrested or have been accused of crimes associated with drug use.
With suspected overdoses in its jails surpassing 200 per year, the sheriff’s department invested in new body scanners that are used to inspect men and women being booked into custody. Deputies also use drug-sniffing dogs at the jails, and the mail systems have been tightened.
The strategies have reduced the number of overdoses reported by the department in recent months.
In 2021, officials reported a total of 206 suspected overdoses and more than 600 cases of naloxone being deployed. The drug can save lives by reversing the effect of opioids. Last year, there were 202 suspected overdoses; so far this year, just 120 have been reported.
Martinez has refused recommendations from both the Citizens’ Law Enforcement Review Board and the county grand jury that she scan employees for illegal drugs as they enter jails.
The department has said there is no evidence deputies are smuggling drugs into jails and raised concerns about scanners potentially exposing workers to repeated low-level radiation.
Earlier this year, however, a longtime jail deputy was arrested with cocaine in his car on the grounds of the Vista jail.
In June, the National Institute of Justice reported: “Drugs are commonly smuggled into prisons and jails by incarcerated persons, staff and visitors.”
The civilian oversight finding that sustained a misconduct allegation against the sheriff’s department in the Bousman case was unusual. The review board last reached a similar finding last year after investigating the 2021 death of Saxon Rodriguez.
“The evidence indicated that either sworn (sheriff’s) personnel and/ or non-sworn SDSD personnel failed to prevent illicit drugs from entering the detention facility,” the review board said about the Rodriguez death.
Paul Parker, the Citizens’ Law Enforcement Review Board executive officer, said Friday that he plans to sustain future complaints related to fatal in-custody overdoses if his staff concludes the drugs were obtained or consumed within the jails.
“We will include it every time,” he said.
