Inmate Who Died At San Diego Central Jail ID'd

SAN DIEGO, CA — Authorities Thursday publicly identified an inmate who died of as-yet undetermined causes last weekend at San Diego Central Jail.

Deputies performing routine rounds found Brandon Pleffner, 44, unconscious and unresponsive in his cell at the Front Street detention center shortly after 7 a.m. Sunday, according to the San Diego County Sheriff's Office.

Pleffner's city of residence was not provided.

Jail staffers tried in vain to revive Pleffner prior to the arrival of paramedics, who took over the lifesaving attempts before pronouncing him dead at the scene.

A ruling on the cause of Pleffner's death remains on hold pending completion of postmortem examinations.

Pleffner had been in custody since Nov. 8, facing charges of shoplifting with prior convictions.

"The San Diego Sheriff's Office extends our sympathies to the Pleffner family and all those affected by his passing," Lt. Juan Marquez said. "A sheriff's family-liaison officer will continue to support the family as they navigate through this difficult time."

The Sheriff's Office, which runs the county's jails, has been under scrutiny for years due its unusually high number of in-custody deaths. In 2022, the California State Auditor's Office found "deficiencies with how the (county agency) provides care for and protects incarcerated individuals (that) likely contributed to in-custody deaths."

That audit examined 185 deaths within the San Diego-area jail system from 2006 through 2020, a rate that exceeded all of California's other large counties during the same period. Nineteen in-custody deaths occurred in the county in 2022 alone, and another six took place in 2023.

The Sheriff's Office has committed to a $500 million effort to modernize and upgrade its jails, but critics have questioned whether those efforts have been sufficient to address the problem of custody deaths.

— City News Service