Retired Bay Area DA blames county jail staff for 2021 inmate death in custody

OAKLAND, California – A San Francisco Bay Area district attorney in the Nov. 5 election filed criminal charges this week against 11 former and current employees of a county jail over the 2021 in-custody death of a man that was left unchecked on his cell phone for days.

Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price announced Thursday that felony dependent adult abuse charges have been filed against seven county sheriff’s deputies, two former deputies and two members of the Santa Rita Jail medical staff. . If convicted, the maximum for each defendant is four years in state prison.

Three of the defendants are also accused of falsifying documents related to the death of Maurice Monk, 45, who was found unconscious in his cell in November 2021 after a month in custody.

Price was elected in 2022 on a progressive platform that included holding corrections officials accountable for deaths in custody. It is unclear whether his successor will file charges after Price was ousted by voters in a rare recall election.

Monk was arrested in October after being charged with disorderly conduct and refusing to get off a transit bus. He was sent to jail after failing to appear on a warrant for a previous, unrelated misdemeanor on a transit bus line, his office said.

A lawsuit filed by Monk’s family said footage from jail officers’ body cameras showed officers and nurses throwing food and medication into Monk’s cell as he lay. does not respond for three daysthe San Francisco Chronicle reported.

The county settled the family’s lawsuit for $7 million last year.