Richard Matus, Jr., referred to as dwelling each likelihood he obtained — even throughout his 4 years in jail. His two youngsters got here to anticipate listening to his voice via the scratchy jail telephone, and so final fall when his 13-year-old daughter obtained again from her first day of faculty, she requested her grandmother: Had her dad referred to as but?
Lisa Matus wanted to determine a strategy to inform her: Her father had died. Simply hours after a seemingly regular dialog along with his mom, the 29-year-old Matus had been discovered unresponsive in a Riverside County jail cell. At first, his household struggled to get solutions, however ultimately a coroner’s report confirmed that he died of an overdose earlier than jail workers may intervene to avoid wasting him.
Amid a surge of inmate deaths, Riverside County has come beneath rising scrutiny from state investigators and now could be going through new authorized motion in federal court docket. Not solely has Matus’ household filed go well with, however their lawyer informed The Occasions on Saturday that there are at the very least 5 different households planning on doing the identical after their family members died in native lockups.
“That is the primary of six federal lawsuits that we’re bringing on behalf of the six households that we’re representing,” stated Lengthy Seaside-based lawyer Denisse Gastélum. “Our aim is to shed public gentle on the continuing, endemic, unabated dangers of damage and demise to pretrial detainees who’re presumed harmless within the eyes of the regulation and are pressured to be incarcerated within the Riverside County jails.”
With 18 deaths, 2022 was the Riverside County jails’ deadliest 12 months in over a decade, in line with the lawsuit.
Previously, Sheriff Chad Bianco has taken to social media responsible households of the incarcerated for his or her deaths, and referred to as legal professionals who symbolize them “unhealthy” individuals. He’s additionally blamed the inmates themselves, alleging that folks “purposely get arrested simply to smuggle medication” into the jails.
“Each single one among these inmate deaths was out of anybody’s management,” he stated beforehand. “The actual fact of the matter is that they only occurred to be in our custody.”
On Saturday, his workplace declined to remark, citing pending litigation.
In keeping with his lawyer, Matus grew up in Riverside County. As a child, his household nicknamed him “Bump” — a moniker he earned from being a slipshod boy who at all times carried round his stuffed elephant, Bump.
Within the years earlier than his arrest, Matus made a residing putting in safety methods and dealing as a stagehand for his brother’s music occasions. His lawyer stated he didn’t have a historical past of heavy drug use. However in 2018, each he and his youthful brother, Raymond, ended up behind bars after they have been accused of tried homicide through the theft of a marijuana dispensary.
Richard Matus maintained his innocence and needed to take the case to trial. So he spent 4 years within the county jail awaiting his day in court docket.
On the night of Aug. 10, Matus referred to as his mom. She stated he sounded coherent and engaged, in line with the lawsuit.
However just a few hours later, information present that deputies discovered him unresponsive inside his cell on the Cois M. Byrd Detention Middle in Murrieta. By that time, in line with the go well with, he’d been “experiencing a medical emergency for an considerable period of time.”
The deputies who responded slightly earlier than midnight administered doses of the overdose-reversing drug Narcan, however discovered they have been too late. In keeping with a report by the coroner division of the sheriff’s workplace, Matus died from an overdose of fentanyl, mixed with alcohol. It’s not clear how he obtained maintain of the substances, or whether or not he ingested the highly effective opioid on goal.
No less than six different jail deaths final 12 months have been the results of drug overdoses, and three extra have been deemed suicides. 4 have been by pure causes, two have been homicides, and the reason for demise for 2 had not been decided as of final week when the Matus go well with was filed.
Except for laying out the small print of final 12 months’s fatalities, the lawsuit accused the county and the sheriff’s division of “nice indifference,” saying they have been “repeatedly placed on discover of nice risks which existed inside the Riverside County correctional services via the lengthy historical past of in-custody deaths.”
Particularly, the go well with pointed to a 2013 class motion case filed by three inmates who alleged that their constitutional rights had been violated due to the unhealthy medical and psychological well being providers they acquired behind bars. That go well with ultimately led to a consent decree, requiring the county to make enhancements.
Higher psychological well being and medical care, Gastélum stated, would assist forestall so many overdoses and different in-custody deaths.
“There isn’t a good purpose that we must always have people dying in our jails,” Gastélum stated. “Not like in some states, California has in place all these rules to guard incarcerated individuals. We’re going to demand that they comply.”
The 50-page lawsuit alleges negligence, failure to oversee workers and failure to offer medical care however doesn’t specify the quantity of damages the household is looking for.
Final month, the string of Riverside County jail deaths spurred the state’s lawyer basic to start investigating the sheriff’s workplace over allegations of extreme power and inhumane jail situations.
“It’s time for us to shine a lightweight on the Riverside County Sheriff’s Workplace and its practices,” Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta stated on the time. “Too many households and communities in Riverside are hurting and searching for solutions.”
In response, Bianco launched a video assertion promising to cooperate with the probe, whereas dismissing it as a political stunt.
“This investigation relies on nothing however false and deceptive statements and straight-out lies from activists, together with their attorneys,” Bianco stated. “It will show to be a whole waste of time and assets.”
The purpose of the probe is to determine whether or not the sheriff’s workplace has proven a sample or follow of unconstitutional or illegal policing. If the state’s investigation exhibits that they’ve, Bonta may get court-ordered cures to right it.
In latest months, Bonta has launched investigations into different regulation enforcement companies, together with the Torrance Police Division and the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Workplace. And greater than two years in the past, Bonta’s predecessor opened an investigation into the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Division.
Los Angeles jails additionally noticed a excessive variety of deaths final 12 months. Information from the county medical expert present that 44 individuals died in custody, making it the second-deadliest 12 months of the previous decade.
The developments in California come amid studies of worsening situations in jails throughout the nation. Final 12 months, giant jails in New York Metropolis and Houston made headlines for an uptick in deaths. In the meantime, lockups in West Virginia, Texas, Washington and different states are fighting issues brought on by growing older services, rising populations and surging violence.
