“I’m getting weaker as each day passes,” wrote Michael Finnerty in a grievance he submitted while incarcerated at an Orange County jail on March 20, 2020. He died 9 days later, having lost over 30 pounds in two months of incarceration.
Finnerty is one of at least 119 individuals who died in custody in Orange County jails between 2010 and 2021. All of these deaths, which we examined in our new report, were tragic and many of them preventable.
Consider the case of Steven Duran, who died on April 12, 2017, after a four-year pattern of medical neglect in custody. In October 2013, Duran fell while getting off an OC Sheriff’s Department (OCSD) bus. He was handcuffed and unable to break his fall and sustained numerous injuries to his nose, shoulder, and ribs. Duran’s file is full of grievances and requests for medical care after this incident. He detailed severe pain and mobility constraints and reported he was triaged for his nose only, while the injuries to his ribs and shoulder were ignored by personnel.
Duran continued to fight for treatment and pain management options by filing grievances and medical requests, until he finally underwent surgery for a rotator cuff tear in December 2014, over a year after the injury.
In 2015, Duran sued OCSD and the Correctional Health Services for, among other things, medical indifference, malpractice, and neglect. He represented himself in court and lost the case, but his file nonetheless tells the story of a man desperately trying to access medical care — ranging from pain management to a heart healthy diet — as his health deteriorated behind bars. Duran’s file is nearly 400 pages, the longest the ACLU SoCal has obtained. This is partly due to the length of his incarceration in OC jails, but also due to how much Duran advocated for himself.
Duran’s case is among many in the report reflective of recurring failures during intake and medical triage, and delayed or denied medical care. Untreated withdrawal, suicide, and physical violence were also factors in the deaths we reviewed.
The high death rate has continued since 2021, including at least eight people in 2025. Despite a declining jail population, deaths have not declined, and official explanations routinely deflect responsibility. Not once, in any of the 119 cases we reviewed, did the Orange County District Attorney find the sheriff’s department at fault.
The central conclusion of the report is clear: jails are not safe places for people who need medical or mental health care, and yet jails are filled with exactly those people.
Every person named in the report was a human being. Their deaths were not inevitable. And their deaths should not be dismissed as the result of “life choices” as OC Sheriff Don Barnes suggests.
Surveillance of those experiencing mental health crises does not work when those surveilling do not value the lives entrusted to their care. The medical neglect detailed in Steven Duran’s case is emblematic of a system that does not take the pain and distress of incarcerated individuals seriously.
The most effective way to prevent deaths in custody is not better surveillance, tighter restrictions, or more internal investigations. It is reducing reliance on incarceration and investing instead in community-based treatment, housing, and support systems that keep people alive.
We invite policymakers, advocates, and community members to read the full report, engage with the data, and join us in demanding accountability and a future where no one is left to die in jail.
