What began as a federal lawsuit accusing the San Diego Sheriff’s Department of discriminating against a dozen or more people in county jail with various disabilities has expanded into a case that now involves thousands of current and future detainees.
Judge Anthony Battaglia has granted a motion to certify the complaint initially filed in early 2022 as a class-action lawsuit.
The order means the allegations lodged by people who use wheelchairs or suffer from hearing loss will now apply to thousands of people currently serving time in San Diego County jails — and thousands of people who may be booked into sheriff’s custody in the future.
“All members of the classes are allegedly exposed to substantial risk of harm due to defendants’ alleged policies and practices,” Battaglia wrote in an 11-page federal court ruling issued on Nov. 3.
“The requested relief would benefit the named plaintiffs as well as all members of the proposed class and subclasses in the same manner in a single stroke,” the judge added.
The Sheriff’s Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the order. The department generally does not publicly comment on ongoing litigation.
Attorneys for the original defendants said the ruling will help impose reforms on a jail system that is badly in need of improvements.
“This order is a significant development in the case and advances us towards trial and injunctive relief for our clients,” said Guy Grunfeld, one of the lead attorneys who filed the case. “We are honored to represent the approximately 4,000 incarcerated people who are part of this class.”
According to the order, lawyers for the plaintiffs and defendants agreed on a plan to ensure that all members of the class would be informed about the decision.
“The parties have agreed to the form and substance of the notice and request the court to order copies of the notice be posted throughout the jails in Spanish and English,” the ruling says, and “that defendant Sheriff’s Department read the class notice to individuals who are illiterate or have a disability that may affect their ability to read the notice.”
Under the Battaglia ruling, the represented class will now include:
- All adults who are now or will be in the future incarcerated in any of the San Diego County jail facilities
- All adults who have a disability as defined in state and federal law and are now or will be incarcerated in San Diego County jails
- Adults who are now or will be in jail and have a private lawyer or are representing themselves in pursuing a state or federal claim
- All Blacks or Latinx adults who are now or will be incarcerated in San Diego County jails.
The case was filed in February 2022, days after a state audit sharply criticized the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department for maintaining a jail system whose mortality rate was for years the highest among California’s largest counties.
Attorneys for the plaintiffs said the county was violating rights of other people, and the initial claim should be certified as a class-action case so that any judgments would apply to all people in custody now or in the future.
The complaint includes claims from people who use wheelchairs being assigned to upper bunks in small jail cells, leaving them unable to access their sleeping area.
Plaintiffs’ attorneys also accuse the county of maintaining dangerously filthy jails, inadequate staffing, substandard booking processes and insufficient medication monitoring.
It also says much of the safety equipment is non-functioning and that the sheriff is not doing enough to prevent illegal drugs from being smuggled into jails.
The lawsuit also includes allegations from incarcerated people with disabilities such as hearing loss who say they are regularly denied sign-language interpreters, leaving them unable to communicate with healthcare providers, deputies or other jail employees.
“I did not understand what the dentist, the jail staff or anyone else was saying,” Cristian Esquivel, a detainee who is deaf and struggles to read and write, said in a sworn declaration to the court earlier this year.
“I did not understand what was on the papers that they gave me,” he said. “I did not know that they were going to take out my tooth before they did it.”
Another man serving time in San Diego County jail said he was being held in a cell that does not comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act. He said he uses a wheelchair due to a serious back injury but could not access the upper bunk, forcing him to sleep on the floor.
When Nierobi Kuykendall was unexpectedly transferred to the George Bailey Detention Facility in February, he said he was not permitted to bring his wheelchair.
“I asked if I could speak to a sergeant to explain that I need my wheelchair … but no one came to talk to me,” he wrote in his declaration. “Instead, six deputies came up and forcibly removed me from my wheelchair, lifting me out of it and put me in a vehicle to send me to George Bailey.
“I have not had a wheelchair since that day,” he added.
The declarations were filed in support of a request for an injunction earlier this year. But days before a hearing on the motion, the county reached a stipulated agreement with the plaintiffs’ legal team agreeing to specific reforms.
But the stipulation was limited.
The legal complaint is moving forward in San Diego federal court, with a trial expected to be scheduled for late next year or early in 2025, Grunfeld said.
