Overview: The Riverside County Sheriff’s Department has been under scrutiny for years due to a high in-custody death rate, lack of oversight, and inadequate mental health care. Despite numerous reports and recommendations for improvement, little has changed. The most recent report from the Riverside County Civil Grand Jury highlights the need for independent oversight of the department, which has not been established as authorized under Assembly Bill 11854. The report also mentions the 29 in-custody deaths that have occurred since the launch of a civil rights pattern or practice investigation into the department in 2023.
S.E. Williams
Most of us know the story. We’ve followed it. Spoken about it. Written about it. Advocated for it. Filed complaints in the State Attorney General over it. And yet, we continue to wait for oversight of the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department. We also continue to wait—though some of us, impatiently—for results and recommendations from a civil rights pattern or practice investigation into it.
More than five years since the in-custody death rate in Riverside County jails exploded by nearly 60% year over year—from 12 in 2021 to 19 in 2022—not much has changed other than the re-election of what many refer to as an incompetent sheriff, Chad Bianco; and his recent, some say, humiliating defeat in the CA primary race for governor after failing to secure the endorsement of his dear leader, Donald J. Trump.
A detailed series by Black Voice News in January 2024, highlighted a number of issues that occurred in Riverside county jails in 2022, including the impact of opioids that made their way into local jail facilities, then into the hands of inmates and eventually into the blood streams of a number of those in custody and awaiting trial, some died as a result. The community would later learn the role county deputies played in this deadly scenario.
Another area highlighted in the BVN report was how corrections officers monitor (or fail to adequately monitor) people in custody and the quality of mental health care behind bars. These findings were similar to issues identified in a 2013 federal lawsuit that forced Riverside County to improve the medical and mental health care of detained individuals.
However, in 2023, a full decade after the lawsuit settled in a consent decree, BVN learned the county had only complied with 13 of the roughly 80 provisions detailed in the decree.
Also, since 2014, Riverside County grand juries have investigated the Sheriff’s Department (Department) on more than one occasion and recommended several changes with some of them particularly relevant to the same issues that surrounded the 2022 jail deaths and/or were also identified in the 2013 federal lawsuit. However, grand jury records show the Department rejected most of their recommendations for improvements.
On May 7, 2026, “It was déjà vu all over again” when county officials published the 2025–2026 Riverside County Civil Grand Jury (Jury) report titled, After a Decade of Record Deaths in County Jails, the Community Deserves Transparency through Oversight.
“Continuing to believe the same thing, even in the face of new evidence to the contrary, is the definition of insanity – except in politics where it’s called leadership.”
Scott Adams
The Jury stated it undertook this investigation to “evaluate the effectiveness, transparency, and accountability of RCSO [Riverside County Sheriff’s] operations, focusing on its jail system” and “whether existing structures adequately protect the rights, health, and safety of individuals in custody.”
According to the Jury their investigation was in response to continuing concerns related to “in-custody deaths, internal investigative practices, and the absence of comprehensive independent oversight.” These are all issues raised by the general public, concerned organizations and the media again and over since at least 2013 and possibly earlier.
The Jury further sought to ensure the Department’s “responsible stewardship of public resources.” As an aside and a reminder, there has been lingering concerns over the Department’s use (or possible misuse) of COVID-19 funds.
The 2025–2026 Jury report speaks to the civil rights pattern or practice investigation into the Department by the CA Attorney General that remains in process and highlighted the 29 in-custody deaths that have occurred in Riverside County jails since the investigation was launched in 2023. The Jury stressed how these deaths underscore the urgent need for structural reform independent of electoral or political timelines.
The report then went on to highlight what we already know. “That Riverside County has not established a comprehensive, independent civilian oversight structure as authorized under Assembly Bill 11854 and Government Code § 25303.
The county continues to payout millions of dollars each year for lives lost in these facilities. Although it is difficult to determine the exact cost associated with wrongful deaths payouts in Riverside County, we understand the immeasurable impact to families of loved ones lost and that no amount of money can make them whole again. We must fix what’s broken in the department to help mitigate/eliminate the loss of lives in county jails.
In conclusion, the Jury stressed the importance and need for independent oversight of the Department. Once again, forcing us to ask the question. “”Why do we keep studying a broken system and asking for solutions again and again that data and analysis show again and again is warranted? The state has already given us the tools to move forward with a couple of options to make it happen—either through action by the Board of Supervisors or through a voter initiated ballot measure.
In recent years this county has failed to create oversight through either option and yet, we continue to study the problem, we continue to make the same recommendations, we continue to fail in our ability to create change and those confined to our jails continue to die.
And for that matter, I encourage us not to stop with Riverside County. Here in the inland region, oversight must also be established over the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department.
Admittedly, in August 2025, San Bernardino County became the first in the state to reach full compliance in regards to a class-action settlement agreement reached in 2018 to improve conditions in its jails stemming from a 2016 lawsuit filed by the Prison Law Office. The lawsuit alleged the use of excessive force against inmates by jail staff; inadequate accommodations for disabled inmates; extreme solitary confinement conditions, and denial of adequate medical and mental health care. It took San Bernardino County nine years to reach compliance. I’m happy it did. However, this does not mean oversight should not be established going forward.
This years Jury report included a chart showing a comparison of Southern California Counties with and without independent oversight. As you will note below, Riverside and San Bernardino Counties are the sole holdouts in this regard.
HIGH-LEVEL COMPARISON OF COUNTY AB 1185 OVERSIGHT
I agree with the saying often attributed to Albert Einstein that “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” In this instance however, I am inclined to turn to Einstein’s predecessor, the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche who wrote, “Insanity in individuals is something rare – but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule.”
Qualitative feedback gathered from constituents across Riverside County and published in a comprehensive 2025 report by the organization Inland Empire United revealed a persistent thread that ran through every district, ZIP code, and conversation—”constituents want clarity, accountability, and meaningful reform in how the Sheriff’s Department and Coroner Offices operate.”
As a community we have all the information we need to act and we have the legislative authority to create the warranted oversight of the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department. Why can’t we make it happen? Report after report tells the same story. Analysis after analysis makes the same recommendation—oversight is warranted and yet we can’t seem to move forward on this important issue.
Is it because we’re insane? If not, than we must find or create a way to break through the barriers to reform.
Of course, this is just my opinion. I’m keeping it real.