THE HUTCHINSON REPORT: Why are so many dying in the L.A. County jails?

By Earl Ofari Hutchinson

Contributing Columnist

The news was beyond shocking. “This year, 31 people have died in the custody of Los Angeles County jails. Since the start of 2023, a staggering 154 people have died in L.A. jails.”

This finding by the Vera Institute of Justice, a criminal justice advocacy group, was only the tip of the iceberg.

The number of deaths in the L.A. County Men’s Jail in 2026 is on pace to establish a new record for jail fatalities. Even more appalling, the surge in fatalities comes five years after the county Board of Supervisors, tired of relentless public pressure, lawsuits, payouts and the hideous publicity about the wretched conditions in the L.A. County Jail, promised to close the jail.

The fatalities are grim proof of a promise the supervisors haven’t come anywhere close to keeping.

One obvious question is why are so many men dying behind bars. The second one is why is the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department stone silent on the deaths. That includes primarily identifying the dead men and the cause of their deaths.

There have been repeated requests from family members of those who have died in jail as well as investigators requesting full public disclosure of the identities of the men who died in police custody and the cause of their death. Anything less smacks of a cover-up by the department.

It took a Freedom of Information filing in 2023 to get the department to release the names of the dead men. The department released only the names and ages, but not cause of death.

It is no surprise that Blacks and Latinos comprised the majority of the jail dead. Most of the men were in their 20s and 30s. That made their deaths even more tragic and suspect. Death at an early age.

There have been federally mandated investigations, consent decrees and prisoner and advocacy group lawsuits to implement massive reforms in the operation and maintenance of the jail. There have also been countless calls, and proposals from the county Board of Supervisors to shutter the Men’s Central Jail.

That has not happened. And the deaths, as well as the constant complaints of abuse, violence and poor safety, health and sanitary conditions in the jail, continue to pile up.

Worse, the number of those incarcerated within the L.A. County Jail system is again on the rise after several years of decline. The passage of the hard-nosed, tough on crime and sentencing Proposition 36 in 2024 virtually ensured the reversal in the jail population numbers.

And what a reversal. In the months following the enactment of the proposition the number of those being detained under Proposition 36 soared by a staggering 4,308%.

It may get worse. In August 2024, the supervisors seemed to inch back from their often-expressed intention to close the jail. There was the growing sentiment that violent crime was on the rise and that many of those incarcerated at the jail could not be referred to non-imprisonment diversion programs.

“Overcrowding and staff prone to both negligence and flagrant mistreatment towards incarcerated people have continued to make Men’s Central Jail, and the county jail system at large, a dangerous, even fatal, place to be,” noted Michelle Parris, director of the Vera California initiative. “This current inertia — stalling on closing [Men’s Central Jail], dismissing alternatives to incarceration, and failing to make real strides toward solving the issues that drive incarceration, like homelessness and substance use — cannot continue.”

Unfortunately, it has. That brings us back to the issue of accountability. That can’t happen when the Sheriff’s Department will not publicly identify those who have died and their cause of death. That leaves criminal justice advocates groping in the dark for who they were and why they died.

In its report, the Vera Institute was able to shed a glimmer of light on this tormenting question. As previously noted, they are young. Many of them had not been sentenced. Some of the deaths were reported as “accidental.” However, there was no clarification on just what caused the accident.

The failure to identify dead inmates and give complete details on the cause of their death has enraged relatives and family members of the deceased inmates. They have staged rallies and held press conferences demanding that supervisors and the sheriff’s department act to end the blackout on the jail death toll. So far, their protests have been met with official silence.

The issue though will not magically disappear. With Proposition 36’s harsh sentencing on the books, and foot dragging by the supervisors on closing the County Jail, or at least mandating massive reforms in its operations, there will be more bodies packed into the jail. That can only mean one thing.

There will be more deaths under dubious circumstances with no identification of who died and why they died. This means more grief, handwringing, and anger by their family members at their deaths.

Earl Ofari Hutchinson is an author and political analyst. His forthcoming book is “The Garbaging of America” (Amazon ebook and Middle Passage Press).