San Diego County lawyers continue fighting in court to keep secret the internal Sheriff’s Department reports related to jail deaths and other critical incidents.
And they keep losing.
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals refused to overturn a lower court ruling ordering the county to turn over findings from some two dozen internal Sheriff’s Department investigations to lawyers suing over county jail practices.
In a simple, two-paragraph ruling, federal appeals court judges refused to overturn an earlier judge’s order compelling Sheriff Kelly Martinez to hand over reports from the department’s Critical Incident Review Board, or CIRB.
“Petitioner has not demonstrated a clear and indisputable right to the extraordinary remedy of mandamus,” the court wrote in a Feb. 28 decision. “Accordingly, the petition is denied.”
The decision means lawyers suing San Diego County over conditions inside local jails will be able to use the internal CIRB reports as evidence in their ongoing lawsuit.
The 9th Circuit ruling is the latest setback for the county in the long-running legal dispute filed by civil-rights lawyers on behalf of people who are and have been incarcerated in San Diego County jails.
The Sheriff’s Department declined to comment on the federal appeals court ruling.
“This request is in reference to a case with ongoing litigation,” sheriff’s spokesperson Lt. David LaDieu said by email. “We are not able to comment at this time.”
The county communications director did not respond to a request for comment.
San Diego County lawyers, under the direction of the Board of Supervisors, continue to fight the release of internal investigative records, so far unsuccessfully.
Gay Grunfeld, one of the main lawyers suing the county over its treatment of men and women in the sheriff’s custody, said she was pleased with the decision from the federal appellate judges.
“The 9th Circuit order and the previous ones are an important step in the right direction,” she said. “The federal court will have important evidence by which to consider the legal claims we have brought on behalf of all people incarcerated at the jail.”
The lawsuit dates back to 2022, a year in which 20 people died in the custody of the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department. San Diego County jails have had one of the highest mortality rates in California for years.
The legal complaint was initially filed by a dozen or so people who spent time in San Diego County jails, but it received class-action certification late last year.
That means that any changes imposed as a result of the lawsuit will apply to all people in San Diego County jails — not only the plaintiffs who filed the case.
Plaintiffs want to force the Sheriff’s Department to better protect people in county jails, especially disabled people who are often not provided wheelchairs, hearing aids and other assistive devices they need.
“We look forward to the day when San Diego provides a safe and secure jail environment that provides constitutional medical, mental health and dental care and prevents needless deaths,” Grunfeld said.
Last year, the Sheriff’s Department announced it had reached a partial settlement in the case and would make some changes to better serve disabled people in jail.
Findings from the internal review board have been controversial as the number of deaths in custody has continued to climb.
Two years ago, when Martinez was running for sheriff, she pledged to release the CIRB reports as a gesture of public transparency. But soon after she won election, she reversed course and opted to release only brief summaries of the investigations.
The civilian oversight board that examines complaints about the Sheriff’s and Probation departments also recommended those investigations’ findings be regularly released to the public.
But department officials have yet to respond to the request from the county Citizens’ Law Enforcement Review Board, which can only issue advisory recommendations.
Under a bill introduced by San Diego‘s state Sen. Toni Atkins and signed into law by Gov. Gavin Newsom last year, sheriffs across California will be required to release CIRB reports related to jail deaths beginning July 1.
The Sheriff’s Department and its lawyers also have resisted providing CIRB reports to other plaintiffs who filed lawsuits accusing the county of wrongful jail deaths, negligent healthcare or other misconduct.
Last year, The San Diego Union-Tribune intervened in a case filed by a man who was gravely injured in San Diego County jail in 2018 and subsequently received a $7.75 million settlement.
Despite resolving the lawsuit, county lawyers refused to release the CIRB reports collected as evidence in it.
After the trial court ordered the documents released to the Union-Tribune and other news organizations, the county appealed to the 9th Circuit.
Federal appellate judges blocked the release of the disputed records while the appeal is under way. A ruling in that case has yet to be issued.
