One inmate dies, second revived with Narcan at Sacramento jail, fifth in-custody death since May

Daniel Hunt
·2 min read
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One inmate died and another inmate was revived after a suspected fentanyl overdose occurred Friday at the Sacramento County Main Jail, marking the fifth death of an incarcerated person in sheriff’s jail custody in nearly three months.

The Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office announced late Friday that guards responded around 11:15 a.m. to an eighth-floor cell in the downtown facility and found two unresponsive cellmates.

“Both inmates were removed from the cell, and deputies immediately began to administer first aid,” said Sgt. Amar Gandhi, a spokesman for the Sheriff’s Office. “Narcan was also administered to both inmates multiple times, as staff continued first aid until Fire Department personnel arrived.”

Gandhi said in a news release that one of the inmates was revived “and began to breathe on his own” before he was briefly hospitalized. After being treated the man was released back to Main Jail custody.

The second man, identified only as a 40-year-old, was pronounced dead at the jail, Gandhi said. His identity was expected to be released by the Sacramento County Coroner’s Office.

He was the fifth inmate to die while in Sacramento sheriff’s custody in the last 11 weeks. The three other inmate deaths occurred on May 5, May 12 and June 8 at the downtown facility; another man died June 28 at the Rio Cosumnes Correctional Center near Elk Grove.

Understaffing was listed in reports last year as a factor in inmate deaths. As a result of the low staff levels, Sacramento County is violating a 2019 federal class action settlement that provides requirements for the jail to improve medical and mental health care for inmates.

With the latest death, a total of 30 inmates have died in Sacramento jail facilities since the start of 2021.

Gandhi said deputies would “complete a thorough inmate death investigation in accordance with department procedures and state laws,” a standard procedure for an inmate’s death. That report would likely take months to be released.