SAN DIEGO — A newly released independent report commissioned by San Diego County’s civilian law enforcement oversight board is shedding new light on the county’s unusually high number of in-custody jail deaths — and identifying where and when those deaths are most likely to occur.
The 67-page report, presented Thursday night to the Citizens’ Law Enforcement Review Board (CLERB), examined 179 deaths across San Diego County’s jail system between 2011 and 2024. According to the study, San Diego County recorded a higher jail death rate than any other large county in California during that period.
Researchers found that the majority of those deaths occurred in just two of the county’s seven detention facilities: the San Diego Central Jail and the Vista Detention Facility. The report singled out the downtown San Diego Central Jail as especially concerning, describing it as “a universe of its own” because of its significantly higher death rate. Investigators found the Central Jail’s death rate was nearly double that of the Vista facility…