Another in-custody lawsuit filed against Sheriff’s Department

Another lawsuit has been filed against Riverside County, the County’s Sheriff’s Department (RCSD) and Sheriff Chad Bianco over an in-custody death in the county’s jail.

On April 28, 2022, Alicia Upton, 21, of San Jacinto, hung herself while in-custody at the Robert Presley Detention Center in Riverside.

On Dec. 31, 2023, her parents filed a lawsuit claiming the Sheriff’s Department “… knew that there existed a great indifference to the safety and protection of the inmates who were in the government’s custody within the Riverside County correctional facilities.”

Consequently, greater vigilance should be taken at the sheriff’s correctional facilities, particularly when an inmate exhibits dangerous behavior toward themselves.

Besides Bianco, three sheriff’s correction’s employees were named in the suit. The family claims there is a long history of in-custody deaths and staff should have taken greater precautions.

After her arrest and during the screening for incarceration, Alicia expressed suicidal thoughts, such as, “I always kinda wanted to die,” according to the Uptons’ attorneys.

On April 19, 2022, Alicia was booked into the Larry D. Smith Correctional Facility in Banning. Two days later, she was transferred to a safety cell in the Presley Detention Center in Riverside, where she continued this behavior.

At the Presley Center, “Ms. Upton’s mental health rating was classified as ‘severe,’” according to the attorneys’ filing. On April 24, she was moved from the safety cell to a regular jail cell.

In a footnote, the suit states, “The entire act of committing suicide through strangulation was captured by the surveillance camera that was placed inside of Ms. Upton’s cell. RCSD custody staff and/or CHS medical staff failed to notice Ms. Upton as she performed the act of strangulation on video.”

Throughout the claim, the Uptons’ attorneys stressed that the sheriff’s correction staff knew enough and had awareness of similar past situations. Consequently, greater observation, caution and care should have occurred for Alicia.

This is the ninth lawsuit related to in-custody deaths filed in 2023. There were 22 in-custody deaths reported in 2022. The Sheriff’s Department has not confirmed the number of in-custody deaths in 2023, but it appears to be at least 13. Eleven, through November, were listed in the Uptons’ filing and the Sheriff’s Department reported two more in December.

In February 2023, the state Attorney General announced it was opening an investigation to determine whether the Riverside County Sheriff’s Office has engaged in a pattern or practice of unconstitutional policing. This review, for which no report has been issued, was initiated due to the public concern over the number of in-custody deaths in 2022.

In a video response, Bianco, replied, “ This investigation is based on nothing but false and misleading statements and straight out lies from activists, including their attorneys … Had the Attorney General or anyone else from DOJ reached out with questions or concerns we could have provided more than enough evidence to prove these allegations false. He failed to do that.”

The Sheriff’s Department has not responded to the Town Crier’s request for more information.