S.E. Williams
Some people collect macabre things. Examples of such collections include shrunken heads, fetal skeletons, taxidermied mutant farm animals, even the personal belongings of convicted serial killers. Meanwhile, Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco has his own dark obsession.
Bianco collects civil rights lawsuits that accuse him of the maltreatment of those confined to the county’s jails, almost as if he wants to enshrine a written record of who suffered on his watch and the impact this suffering had on their lives as detailed in the civil rights suits brought against Bianco and by default, the County of Riverside.
Some may argue terms like “macabre” and “dark obsession” are adjectives too extreme to apply in this case. I adamantly disagree. How else would you describe allegations of negligence, wrongful death, failure to provide medical care, medical malpractice, the intentional infliction of emotional distress and a plethora of other complaints that continue to be levied against Bianco? In addition, after more than six years in office there’s been little, if any, measurable improvements in this regard.
As civil rights lawsuits continue to accrue against Bianco, we should not only be concerned about individuals who died or were harmed in our county’s jails, we must also be concerned about what Bianco’s aberrant leadership will cost the county in the long run as the claims against him continue to be settled. This is because settlements are not paid out of Bianco’s pocket. They are paid for by the taxpayers of this county. In recent years, the county has paid out millions of dollars in settlements largely related to detainee deaths. As such, there is nothing to hold Bianco accountable for this travesty beyond the electorate. This may partially explain his dismissive attitude toward these lawsuits because, as they say, “it’s no skin off his nose.” so to speak.
Since taking office as county sheriff in January 2019, Bianco has been named in a continuous stream of lawsuits filed by inmates and/or loved ones of inmates for a variety of reasons that range from negligence, to wrongful death, to failures to provide medical care, to medical malpractice, to the intentional infliction of emotional distress, to defamation, among other complaints.
In June 2023, after a slate of lawsuits were filed against him primarily for in-custody deaths that occurred in 2022, (no less than 19 individuals died in Riverside County jails that year) Bianco appeared to shrug off the lawsuits claiming, “The facts are that our deputies and nurses do all they can to prevent inmates from illegally taking drugs that kill them, committing suicide, or harming other inmates. We will vigorously fight these frivolous suits in court.” He also declared, “The theatrics of attorneys do nothing but further victimize families.” It is clear from these statements, Bianco takes no responsibility and has no accountability for what occurred. He did not express any intent of seeking to identify ways to improve outcomes.
These statements by Bianco also do not appear to hold up in relation to the latest lawsuit filed against him and the County of Riverside last week.
“When people experience healthcare needs in jail, jail staff decide whether to provide access to medical care and whether to move them to an infirmary or hospital. This lends itself to vastly inadequate treatment, whether out of malice, neglect, or insufficient resources. Deputies can ignore requests or delay response, at times until it’s too late.”
Jessica Pishko
In this recent addition to Bianco’s macabre collection of lawsuits ,we learn the plaintiff seeks “to establish the true and disturbing facts surrounding the horrific in-custody, near-fatal injury of [Riverside County] pretrial detainee, Johnathin James Onello.”
According to the complaint, Onello suffered life threatening injuries while in custody of the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department at the John J. Benoit Detention Center, earlier this year. He further claims he was “denied critical and immediate medical care for hours.” The plaintiff further states he was moved from cell to cell while his pleas for care were ignored.
According to reports, Onello was being held in “pre-trial custody” in a communal cell on a property offense charge. Two inmates took him to a separate cell that was apparently unlocked and open, where they proceeded to beat him. No officers intervened to stop them. Within a couple of hours of the beating, Onello felt ill and asked for medical assistance. His requests were ignored by those on duty. His continued cries for medical assistance were met with guards moving him to an isolation cell as they continued to ignore his calls for help.
When Onello persisted in his cries for medical help, he was then approached by several guards who stripped him and aggressively moved him into a suicide prevention cell even though he was not suicidal.
Finally, after suffering for nearly 12 hours, his pleas for help were answered. Onello was rushed to a local hospital emergency room where doctors found him near death having suffered a ruptured spleen and suffering from sepsis. He underwent emergency surgery to repair his spleen.
If this is an example of what Bianco calls his deputies and nurses doing “all they can” to assist inmates, it gives us another troubling reason to question Bianco’s judgement and leadership.
In Estelle v Gamble in 1976, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that “deliberate indifference to serious medical needs of prisoners (inmates) constitutes ‘unnecessary and wanton infliction of pain’ in violation of the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution’s prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment. “
The court’s ruling further states, “An inmate must rely on prison authorities to treat his medical needs; if the authorities fail to do so, those needs will not be met. In the worst cases, such a failure may actually produce physical ‘torture or a lingering death.’”
Bianco took office in January 2019. Since then, conditions in local jails have continued to deteriorate and the number of in-custody deaths have increased to the extent that Riverside County earned the reputation in 2022, as one of the deadliest jails in the nation.
Does Bianco have a “dark obsession” as it relates to inmates’ suffering and dying on his watch while he continues to insist his deputies and nurses “do all they can”? In my estimation, something is amiss, call it a dark obsession, deficient leadership or “deliberate indifference,” Bianco is failing Riverside County.
Of course, this is just my opinion. I’m keeping it real.