and the two final candidates seeking to be the next elected sheriff — Undersheriff Kelly Martinez and former city prosecutor John Hemmerling — all call reducing jail deaths a priority.
But inmates are still dying. Fifteen people have died in local jails so far this year — a faster pace than the average seen in the 15 years covered by the state audit. Is this a sign that the department’s culture remains callous about inmates? Or of the immense toll by the fentanyl epidemic? Both are aspects of the situation. But the current surge in county jail deaths is also part of a larger story about a U.S. health care system that has seen nearly.
County supervisors hope that better pay will help fill positions. But U.S. think tanks increasingly paint a grim