The Santa Barbara Grand Jury found a perceived conflict of interest in the sheriff department’s investigations of mounting deaths at county jails and is recommending multiple changes.
Currently, both Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties have a sheriff that also oversees the coroner’s system. If an inmate dies in custody in either SLO or Santa Barbara counties, sheriff’s staff conducts an investigation. However, SLO County outsources its pathology work. Over the past three years, the number of deaths at Santa Barbara County Jails more than doubled. During the same time, deaths at the San Luis Obispo County Jail dropped to a quarter of what they were during the previous 15 years. Ventura County’s jail death rate dropped slightly.Medicolegal Death Investigators and their facilities and equipment meet the standards set by the National Association of Medical Examiners.