Supervisors Call For Investigations Into Santa Clara County Jails

SANTA CLARA COUNTY, CA — Concerned about a “lack of transparency” in the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office’s oversight of the county's jails, two county supervisors are calling for the public disclosure of documents and requesting investigations by a civil grand jury and the state’s attorney general’s office.

“The jail has been the scene of a series of tragic and costly incidents, sometimes without explanation, and without apparent accountability,” the supervisors said.

Supervisors Joe Simitian and Otto Lee submitted a referral for next week’s Board of Supervisors meeting, asking the county counsel to make public information regarding Andrew Hogan, an inmate who was suffering from mental illness and sustained a traumatic brain injury while being transferred between jails in 2018.

Hogan, suffering from psychiatric distress, was not belted into his seat and battered his head against the metal grating separating him from the drivers to the point that he fell unconscious. But he was still taken to the Santa Clara County Main Jail and left unattended and bleeding in the van before eventually being transferred to the Valley Medical Center, according to the referral. Hogan, whose brain injury left him incapable of caring for himself, received in excess of $10 million from the county in a settlement.

The supervisors said their offices were “unaware of any meaningful disciplinary actions taken against the correctional officers involved in the delay between Mr. Hogan’s arrival at Main Jail and his eventual transfer to the hospital to receive medical care,” adding that the watch commander on duty during the incident was promoted to captain within months.

Simitian and Lee requested that the county counsel publicize a 19-page report and four-and-a-half hours of video and audio recordings related to Hogan’s case prior to the Sept. 14 Board of Supervisors meeting. They also called to direct the Office of Correction and Law Enforcement Monitoring to investigate the lack of disciplinary action taken with the Hogan case.

The supervisors also pointed to two other incidents since 2015 regarding treatment of inmates in county jails.

In August of 2015, three correctional officers murdered Michael Tyree, an inmate who was suffering from mental illness. The county paid $3.6 million to Tyree’s family after an excessive force lawsuit.

Earlier this year, Juan Martin Nunez, a former inmate, sued the county claiming that in August of 2019, he injured his spine while running head-first into his cell door and was then left in his cell for an extended period of time. Nunez alleged in the lawsuit that correctional officers moved him in a way that worsened his injuries, despite him screaming in pain and telling officers that he might be paralyzed.

Simitian and Lee also requested that the county counsel update the board on the status of Nunez’s lawsuit.

The sheriff’s office said in a statement to the Mercury News earlier this week that both Hogan and Nunez were in custody for “minor charges” and should have been placed in treatment facilities rather than in jail.

“People with serious mental illness do not belong in jail,” said Sheriff Laurie Smith in an interview with KPIX Thursday. “It’s a custodial environment. And so we really need to address that.”

The sheriff’s office has overseen the majority of jail functions since 2010, supervising more than 700 correctional officers, according to the referral. The supervisors said that the sheriff’s office has consistently not been cooperative in requests to provide information and that political influence may have played a role.

The supervisors pledged to publish a non-confidential version of a recent memorandum sent by the county counsel with updates regarding the county’s compliance with court-overseen consent decrees from settlements so the public could “understand the progress, or lack thereof, of our many jail reforms.”

“With the exception of food, laundry, warehousing, and administrative booking, virtually all operations at the jail are now overseen by the Sheriff,” the supervisors said. “The results have been costly and tragic.”