STOP DEATHS AND HARM WORKING GROUP REPORT

The Stop Deaths and Harm group has worked for several years to improve the tragically inadequate medical care at Santa Rita jail. With ICJJ and many others, Stop Deaths and Harm successfully advocated for the County to seek a new medical contractor. This process requires the County to issue a formal Request for Proposals (RFP) to receive bids from medical service providers to organize, assign staff, and provide medical services in the jail.

Several months ago, the Sheriff’s department said the RFP would be issued by July 1. We are still waiting. We will check it out as soon as it is released to see if it adequately precludes bidders that have egregious records such as Wellpath, the current provider.

This year there have been two deaths of detainees who were in the County jail and were hospitalized in a nearby community hospital. They both died shortly after their return to Santa Rita Jail. We are concerned that seriously ill people might have been released from the hospital too soon or did not receive adequate medical monitoring and care once they were back in the jail. We have written letters asking for the status of the Sheriff’s Office investigation into their deaths — addressing our inquiries to the Sheriff’s Office, all members of the Board Of Supervisors, and the County Public Healh Officer. We also filed a request for an investigation with the Alameda County Civil Grand Jury.

These deaths are indicative of a much larger problem: Why are such seriously ill people admitted to the jail in the first place? Were they identified as being seriously ill? Why were they not diverted to healthcare facilities?