Better Medical Care Needed in Santa Rita Jail

Santa Rita guards entering Maurice Monk’s cell after he was unresponsive.

The Stop Deaths and Harm in the Jail (SDHJ) group is engaged in an ongoing campaign to pressure both the sheriff and the Board of Supervisors not to renew the county’s contract with Wellpath, the current medical provider in Alameda County Jail.

SDHJ sent outreach materials to approximately 400 people throughout the county, asking them to take action with an email to Sheriff Sanchez and one to the Board of Supervisors, urging them not to renew Wellpath’s contract and to contract with a not-for-profit medical provider for the jail instead.

Stop Deaths and Harm in the Jail is an offshoot of the Interfaith Coalition for Justice in our Jails. We formed in the spring of 2022 to organize a vigil and demonstration outside the Board of Supervisors, lifting up the names of every person who had died in Santa Rita Jail since 2014. SDHJ currently has representatives from Families Advocating for the Seriously Mentally Ill (FASMI), the American Friends Service Committee, Urban Strategies Council, and other activists.

In recent months, SDHJ has successfully gathered over 50 community activists who spoke at several meetings of the Health and Public Protection meetings of the Board of Supervisors, demanding an end to the inadequate care provided by Wellpath at the jail.

Wellpath was facing approximately 1500 active medical malpractice lawsuits when they declared bankruptcy last year. The lawsuits were lumped into a creditor group that will be paid from a fund of about $15 million, and will share in a minority stake that includes other unpaid creditors. Wellpath’s current contract with Alameda County is set to expire in 2027.

WHAT YOU CAN DO: We encourage you to take action as well! For our action page, visit http://bit.ly/462Mine  to contact the Alameda County Sheriff and the Board of Supervisors. Visit  http://bit.ly/3USL4FX to view a powerful video of recent public comments at the Board of Supervisors, including moving testimony from Maurice Monk's sister about her brother’s horrific and unnecessary death in Alameda County Jail. 

If you want to know more about our group, or would like to be on our email list for campaign updates and invitations to act, please contact Micky Duxbury at mickydux612@gmail.com.