An article in the San Diego Union Tribune on January 13, 2025, ‘Filthy’ and ‘deplorable’: San Diego jails fall short of minimum health standards, expert says in lawsuit, highlights an environmental health expert’s report on conditions in the San Diego County Jails.
This federal lawsuit filed by RBGG challenges the County of San Diego, San Diego County Sheriff’s Department, and San Diego County Probation Department for their collective failure to provide adequate, accessible and safe living conditions, and medical and mental health care for people incarcerated in county jails. It also seeks to address the rights of individuals to pursue claims without attorney representation and to address over-incarceration in county jails of people of color. More information about the case, including court documents, is available here.
Plaintiffs’ expert Debra Graham wrote in an August 7, 2024 report, “Based on the conditions observed during my inspections, it is doubtful if meaningful sanitation and hygiene inspections are occurring.” Graham toured six of the seven San Diego County Jails, finding that the Sheriff’s Office “fails to meet minimum environmental health and safety standards in their jail facilities.” She states in her report, “It is perplexing to me how such filthy conditions can accumulate and continue without active intervention and corrective measures when deplorable conditions in some areas are so obvious.”
RBGG’s Gay Grunfeld is lead attorney for plaintiffs. She commented for the article, “This is not a matter of a little dirt — these are wholesale violations of minimum standards that expose incarcerated class members to a serious risk of substantial harm. Rather than let these unsafe conditions continue unabated, we hope that the County will promptly agree to a remedial plan designed to bring San Diego’s facilities up to constitutional standards.”
The Graham report is one of just twelve that plaintiffs will be releasing to the public in accordance with a December ruling by Judge David Lester. Grunfeld commented, “The more information the jail releases, the better it’s going to be, both for its efforts to reform itself and for the public to understand the processes of this complex and frankly troubled system.”