Errors Led To Killing Of RivCo Inmate, Grand Jury Says

BANNING, CA — A civil grand jury has found that the killing of a Banning inmate was the fault of the Riverside County Sheriff's Department, according to a recent report.

The report, published May 5, found that correctional staff at the Robert Presley Detention Center mistakenly placed a felon with a violent past into a vocational program for low-risk inmates at the Banning Jail, where he reportedly stabbed another inmate to death in September.

The 19-page report is highly critical of Sheriff Chad Bianco's leadership. It comes as the state Attorney General's Office has opened an investigation into the department for a staggering number of inmate deaths reported in recent years, placing Riverside County among the most lethal jail systems in the country.

Related: RivCo Has One Of The Deadliest Jail Systems In U.S.: Report

From 2020 through 2023, Riverside County reported the highest homicide rate among large California jails, according to state data cited by the New York Times. In 2022 alone, at least 19 detainees died in county custody, marking the highest annual total reported by the California Department of Justice in more than three decades.

There were six in-custody deaths at the Banning jail reported in 2024 alone, according to the report. Recent investigations by The Desert Sun and the New York Times have also placed a spotlight on Riverside County's jail system.

The grand jury says the latest death in Banning could have been prevented if the jail staff "had been more diligent in performing their duties and had followed the applicable policies and procedures."

In September, Scott Shelby Lowder, 55, stabbed 36-year-old Steve Gonzalez to death in the Banning jail, according to a Sheriff's Department news release.

The grand jury report, which does not mention any names, says the jail staff did not properly screen an inmate, who gave jailers an alias and a false birth date. A search of his records returned details on a man who had a record of minor offenses. However, jailers did not find his true name, the report says.

This led to him being classified as a "medium risk" for violence. He was then assigned to a vocational program at Larry D. Smith Correctional Facility in Banning, where he was able to work in a print shop. The grand jury report says the man actually had 35 years of violent crimes behind him and had previously served a decade in prison. His previous offenses, which included brandishing a weapon and making criminal threats, would have made him ineligible for a job at the jail. But jailers failed to discover his real identity, the report says.

The report also found that the jail’s biometric identification system, which could have confirmed the inmate’s identity using fingerprint scans, had been out of service for an extended period.

The grand jury made several recommendations:

• Establish clear guidelines for verifying identification using Livescan reports
• Require mandatory training and periodic recertification for staff responsible for determining vocational program eligibility
• Restore and enforce the use of the biometric identification system
• Develop a centralized database to track booking and classification errors to identify their root causes

Bianco, who announced his candidacy for Gov. Gavin Newsom's seat earlier this year, has not commented on the report, but has until Aug. 5 to respond. Patch has also reached out to Bianco for a statement on the report.

Late last year, Bianco told The Press-Enterprise: “We do an industry-leading fantastic job in our corrections division and are not responsible for any of these deaths.”

Related:

Inmate Killed At Smith Correctional Facility In Banning

Female Inmate Dies In Banning Jail, 6th In RivCo Since Late April

Inmate Dies In Banning Jail Cell While Awaiting Trial