Overview: The article calls for oversight of the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department due to the high number of deaths in the county’s jails. The author argues that the Board of Supervisors is failing to address the issue and is only interested in maintaining their positions. The article highlights the need for reforms in criminal justice and public health policies to address the severe health risks associated with incarceration. A report found that individuals incarcerated at the time of a survey experienced a 39% higher risk of all-cause mortality and more than three times the risk of overdose mortality compared with nonincarcerated individuals nationally. Riverside County jails are rapidly becoming among the deadliest in the nation.
S.E. Williams
The great abolitionist, Federick Douglass, taught, “If there is no struggle, there is no progress.”
I call upon us to keep this in mind as the battle for oversight of Riverside County Sheriff’s Department intensifies. At last week’s meeting of the Riverside County Board of Supervisors, members of the community proved once again that we are in this struggle for the long haul. Motion 3.82 introduced by First District Board Supervisor Jose Medina simply called for the establishment of an ad hoc committee to merely explore the possibility of civilian oversight of the Sheriff’s Department. Obviously just the thought was too threatening to other members of the board.
The meeting thus shined a bright spotlight on the compromised slate of cowards this county has elected to serve as supervisors–with the exception of Medina who showed what courage and true representation looks like. His peers, on the other hand, apparently have no real interest in representing their voters, could care less about those dying in custody; and instead are only concerned with retaining their positions on the board for either power, fame, self-aggrandizement and/or to facilitate the goals and objectives of those who fund their campaigns and/or in alignment with the goals of their political party–many of these alleged non partisans–truly represent. It is time to cut the BS and just call it out for what it is.
The fact that men and women continue to die out of proportion in Riverside County jails due to a laundry list of failures by those entrusted with their lives has been addressed through lawsuits, news reports, a federal consent decree, family testimonials, nonprofit advocates, church leaders, and political activists again and over again—though quite obviously, to no avail. In the meantime, people confined to Riverside County jail facilities continue to die in disproportionate numbers compared to elsewhere not only in the state, but in the nation.
I believe we are compelled to continue telling this story ad infinitum, and we will continue to tell it again and over again until collectively, we force the change that is warranted.
Last week, Riverside County Supervisors watched members of the community appeal for oversight of the Sheriff’s Department. Public comments were reduced to one minute per speaker and board members appeared to watch with barely feigned attentiveness. Were they truly interested in hearing from their constituents on the issue of oversight of the sheriff’s department, they would not have pushed the public comments so late in the meeting; nor would the board have reduced public comments to one minute per speaker. I believe had the board been able to determine a legal way to avoid any public comments at all that evening, it would definitely have been its preference.
While the voice of the community was stifled, the Trump-mini-me and inept Riverside Sheriff County Sheriff, Chad Bianco, was allowed to drone on ad nauseum. And just like his idol, Donald Trump, he said nothing of substance and merely attacked those seeking oversight of his department. It is obvious that something is wrong when the county’s jails are turning into death traps where individuals risk their lives remaining in custody until trial because they cannot afford to pay their bail.
For those of you who want to proclaim, it’s their own fault they are in custody, consider this. Again, I must stress that those dying in custody in Riverside County jails are awaiting trial and not convicted of the crime for which they are confined–they are merely awaiting trial. Today in America you are still innocent until proven guilty. Not being able to afford bail should not result in a death sentence.
A report published by the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), June 3, 2025, assessed a cohort of about 3.26 million incarcerated adults nationally, including those in county custody between 2008 and 2019. The report found that individuals incarcerated at the time of the survey experienced a 39% higher risk of all-cause mortality and more than three (3) times the risk of overdose mortality compared with nonincarcerated individuals nationally.
The findings of this report were significant. They suggest that “incarceration significantly increases the risk of death for individuals and community populations.” The report stressed how this underscores “the need for reforms in criminal justice and public health policies to address the severe health risks associated with incarceration.”
Couple these findings with the disaster that is slowly unfolding in Riverside County jails under the stewardship of Chad Bianco, and the Board of Supervisors failure to implement oversight despite Riverside’s rise to near the top of the nation’s list of counties with the most jail deaths.
On April 23, 2025, the New York Times reported that “The jails of Riverside County are plagued with unusually high murder rates and recurring security failures by an inexperienced staff.” The report further stressed that between 2020 and 2023, this county not only had the highest homicide rate among the state’s largest jails, it had the second-highest number of jail deaths in the nation.
This report followed investigative reporting by Black Voice News in January 2023, that not only highlighted the unusually high death toll in the county’s jails in 2022, it put faces to some of those lost and their families who at the time of the report, continued to search for answers regarding their loved one’s demise.
The BVN report further highlighted the sheriff department’s failure–after ten years–to fully comply with all the provisions of the 2013 Consent Decree that resulted from the Gray v the County of Riverside lawsuit that was filed over many of the same issues plaguing the Riverside County jails today.
This week’s board meeting has forced us to ask ourselves this rhetorical question, “How much longer will we tolerate local representation that prioritizes power and politics over human life?”
This community deserves oversight of its Sheriff’s Department. If other counties can achieve it, so can we. Ancestors like Frederick Douglass and others hence have shown us the way. It is up to us to follow the roadmap they provided. Every one of us in our own way, as someone once stated, “must keep demanding, must keep fighting, must keep thundering, must keep plowing, must speak out and speak up, must keep on keeping on,”* until oversight of the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department is a reality.
Of course, this is just my opinion. I’m keeping it real.
*Although this quote is often attributed as being spoken by Frederick Douglass during his 1857 speech “West India Emancipation,” the speech does not include these remarks.