Board finds new death review panel unneeded for county jails
The Ventura County Board of Supervisors has rejected a call for an independent panel to review inmate deaths in county jails, likely ending the idea for now.
Voting Tuesday with little comment, the board declined to establish the local panel recommended by the Ventura County grand jury in June. Jurors asked the board to institute the panel after studying prisoner deaths over seven years at the main jail in Ventura and the Todd Road Jail outside Santa Paula.
But supervisors found the panel unneeded, concluding that the Sheriff's Office had worked diligently to boost safety and treatment of inmates and started programs to prevent suicides and improve conditions.
Existing programs strike "the right balance" between transparency, model health and safety practices and the need to preserve sensitive personal information, supervisors said in their written response.
It's the second time the leading recommendation from the Ventura County grand jury's recently completed study of prisoner deaths has been turned down.
Sheriff Jim Fryhoff called the establishment of the panel of experts and community members unwarranted and duplicative in his official response to the grand jury last month.
He said the county already does multiple reviews of each inmate death. The sheriff's major crimes unit assesses whether a crime has occurred, for example, and the county medical examiner rules on the cause of death. Outside review comes from state and national agencies that uphold standards for jails, Fryhoff said.
He agreed that experts may be able to provide additional insights and transparency, but felt adding members of the public would be counterproductive. They would lack the protections and privileges to review sensitive medical and legal information, he said.
Ventura County's death rate for jails ranked in the middle based on a comparison with jails in nearby counties from 2006 to 2020, according to a state auditor's report issued last year.
A total of 47 inmates died over the 15-year period in Ventura County, a rate of 2 per 1,000 incarcerated individuals. Kern and Riverside reported about the same rate while Los Angeles, Orange and San Bernardino counties ranked slightly lower at a rate of around 1.5. A total of 185 deaths, or 2.4 per 1,000, was reported in San Diego County, which the auditor said had failed to adequately prevent and respond to the deaths of individuals in its custody.
The recommendation for the death review panel leads a list of 10 that the grand jury made after studying 13 deaths from a total of 25 reported between 2016 and 2022. They concluded most of the deaths could have been avoided, a finding strongly denied by the sheriff's office.
Fryhoff said most of the recommended changes were unwarranted or had already been implemented. Still, there were exceptions he agreed to study or start.
A proposal to add drug-sniffing dogs to both jails is under study although sheriff's officials doubt it's really necessary. Finally, both the board and the sheriff liked the grand jury's proposal for an annual report to be made showing how well health care goals are being met. The first report is due in March.
Supervisors approved their response to the grand jury's recommendations 4-0. Supervisor Jeff Gorell was absent for that portion of the meeting. An aide said he had a personal matter that could not be moved, but would have voted in concert with his colleagues.
Kathleen Wilson covers courts, crime and local government issues for the Ventura County Star. Reach her at kathleen.wilson@vcstar.com or 805-437-0271.
This article originally appeared on Ventura County Star: Board finds death review panel unneeded for Ventura County jails
