Families of people who have died in San Diego jails gathered this weekend in Escondido to meet the woman overseeing a new effort to curb in-custody deaths in California jails. Allison Ganter was appointed in October to lead the In-Custody Death Review Division for the Board of State and Community Corrections, an independent authority created in 2012 to monitor California’s jails and juvenile detention facilities, among other tasks. Sen. Toni Atkins (D-San Diego) authored the legislation that created Ganter’s position. Atkins said in an interview last year that she was motivated by The San Diego Union-Tribune’s multiyear examination of the high death rate in local jails and by a scathing 2022 state audit that urged legislators to act to address deaths in custody. “The impetus is because of San Diego, but this is a statewide issue,” Atkins told the Union-Tribune in April 2023. “There were 18 deaths in Riverside jails last year and seven in Los Angeles so far this year. This is not just a San Diego problem. We have been the tip of the spear.” Atkins’ bill was signed into law by Gov. Gavin Newsom last year, along with legislation authored by San Diego Assemblymember Akilah Weber that boosted safety check requirements and ordered the BSCC to develop and adopt regulations to improve mental health care in jails. Ganter told the audience Saturday evening that she was committed to reducing deaths in jails. “We will be developing policy, processes and reporting that brings focus and transparency to deaths in custody,” she said. So far, her office is a staff of two — Ganter and a data researcher. She said the state Legislature will need to approve funding so she can add staff with expertise in mental health and medical care. “I would encourage you to operate with a sense of great urgency,” said Dan Yates, whose son, Brandon, was killed in San Diego’s Central Jail earlier this year. “There are people still in jail who may become a statistic.” Many attendees were surprised to learn that the reviews will be based on whatever information sheriff departments provide to Ganter and will include only deaths that happen inside a jail. If a person died en route to the emergency room, or hours or days after being booked into a hospital, their death would not be reviewed by Ganter’s office. Paul Parker, who led San Diego County’s Citizens’ Law Enforcement Review Board until earlier this year, said those deaths need to be included. Amending the law will require new legislation, Ganter said. “I implore you, help make that change,” Parker told Ganter. “Many times the incident that led to the death started in the jail.” A collage put together by the leaders of Saving Lives in Custody California featuring photos of people who have died in custody was displayed Saturday, Dec. 14, 2024, at an event in Escondido with the state’s new in-custody deaths review chief. (Kelly Davis / For The San Diego Union-Tribune) The meeting was organized by Saving Lives in Custody California, a nonprofit created by Michael and Paloma Serna, whose daughter Elisa died in a San Diego jail in 2019. In July, San Diego County agreed to a $15 million settlement with the Sernas, whose lawsuit revealed that Elisa died from medical neglect. Attendees also urged Ganter to look into why people who are experiencing mental illness or, like Elisa, struggling with drug addiction are overrepresented among jail deaths. David Settles’ brother, Matthew, died by suicide in August 2022 in George Bailey Detention Facility. Before he was incarcerated, Matthew had been placed under a conservatorship, meaning he was unable to care for himself without assistance. Despite this, he was transferred to a jail with no psychiatric unit and placed in administrative segregation. “He was completely isolated, without any treatment,” Settles told Ganter. Ganter thanked the families for sharing their stories. “You’ve built a movement out of tragedies,” she said. She said her division would be the first of its kind in the U.S. “We want to get this right,” she said. “I recognize the need for urgency, but I want to be really, really thoughtful.” Grace Jun, an attorney who represents families of people who have died in custody, said Ganter is in a unique position because the BSCC is responsible for promulgating the standards jails must follow. If death reviews identify a pattern or trend, “they could enact stricter regulations,” she said. “That is an area where BSCC can have some muscle,” she added. “Whether they will flex it or not is up to them.”