Overview: The First Amendment Coalition (FAC) has filed a lawsuit against Riverside County for refusing to disclose records and information related to in-custody deaths at Riverside County jails. The lawsuit seeks to enforce a relatively new California transparency law, SB 519, which requires such records to be made available to the public. The FAC’s lawsuit comes after a series of concerning jail incidents in Riverside County, which had the highest homicide rate among large jails in California between 2020 and 2023, and was recognized as the second deadliest jail system in the nation during this period.
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On Friday, December 5, 2025, the First Amendment Coalition (FAC) advised of their lawsuit against Riverside County giving Riverside County Sheriff turned CA candidate for governor Chad Bianco more unwanted publicity.
For inland area nonprofits like Starting Over, Inc. and others advocating for transparency and accountability by the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department—along with local media and members of the community—any additional light on the disaster now masquerading as the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department is warranted and welcomed.
It is just encouraging for those focused on this issue to know that what’s happening in Riverside County jails is continuing to garner national attention via the efforts of FAC. This is especially encouraging due to the anemic and lackluster push-back by the Riverside County Board of Supervisors against Sheriff Bianco and his questionable management of the county’s jail system. Clearly the board has placed politics over people as it relates to this issue.
The community has called for oversight and in response to the board’s failure to act, citizens are working to qualify a ballot initiative for 2026 that will do exactly that. The Board has refused community calls for the establishment of an independent civilian oversight body and an Inspector General to oversee and/or investigate the Sheriff’s department. The Board has clearly placed politics over people.
As noted by FAC, “Killings are relatively rare in American jails, but those in Riverside County experienced a surge in them.” As many locals already know, state data shows Riverside County jails had the highest homicide rate among large jails in this state under the watch of Sheriff Chad Bianco between 2020 and 2023. As a result, Riverside earned recognition as being home to the second deadliest jail system in the nation during this period. The causes of death continue to run the gambit from overdoses to homicides or suicides as well as natural causes.
The nonprofit, nonpartisan FAC is committed to protecting and promoting a free press, freedom of expression, and the people’s right to know. To that end, FAC educates, advocates, and—as in relation to deaths in Riverside County jails— litigates to advance government transparency and First Amendment protections for all according to a statement by its Board of Directors.
In the FAC’s Verified Petition for Declaratory Relief and Writ of Mandate, Damien v Riverside County, the petitioners, including The New York Times Company (The Times), seek to enforce a relatively new CA transparency law, SB 519, by suing for the disclosure of records and information related to in-custody deaths at Riverside County jails.
“Ever since the pandemic, there’s been a lot of red flags about how people are treated — the illegal activity happening in the jails. That’s why we’ve asked the Attorney General to expand his investigation to find out what’s really going on. Because it’s clear that the public is losing trust in the Sheriff’s Department.”
CA Assemblymember Corey Jackson
The California Public Records Act (PRA) “generally” requires public records to be accessible for public inspection. However, the law included numerous exceptions to this requirement. The personnel records of peace officers and custodial officers for example, were confidential and not subject to public inspection. Thus, this exempted the reports, investigations, and findings of certain incidents involving the use of force by a peace officer.
After a series of concerning jail incidents in the state, in 2023, the California legislature passed SB 519. It was signed into law by the governor in October 2023. Beginning July 1, 2024, SB519, now requires that such records relating to an investigation conducted by a local detention facility into a death incident, must be made available to the public.
In January 2025, Black Voice News published an in-depth investigation into the 2022 deaths that occurred in Riverside County Jails, many of the questions surrounding these deaths — how corrections officers monitor people in custody and the quality of mental health care behind bars — were determined to be similar to issues identified in a 2013 federal lawsuit that forced Riverside County to improve the medical and mental health care of incarcerated people via a consent decree.
Nearly a decade after the court-monitored settlement in the case, the Riverside County jails had yet to meet all requirements under the ongoing consent decree–only 13 of the roughly 80 provisions detailed in the decree were in full compliance. Sara Norman of the nonprofit Prison Law Office, which brought the 2013 lawsuit against the county, identified the increase in deaths in Riverside County jails in 2022 as concerning.
“This points to something going on that must be addressed, or maybe multiple things going on that must be addressed,” said Norman, who had also asked court-appointed experts to review how the jails investigated the deaths. “The problem lies not so much with medically avoidable deaths as with drug overdoses and suicides.” Of course, in jail murders are also a concern.
Sixteen (of the 19) coroner’s reports related to 2022 deaths in Riverside County jails were reviewed by Black Voice News. Ten of the deaths were listed as accidental overdoses or suicides, five as natural deaths and one as a homicide. The Sheriff’s Department, which oversees the coroner’s office, wouldn’t release two reports and one of the reports remained pending authorization for release.
Black Voice News also requested video footage, security logs and other records related to the deaths under the California Public Records Act. After being advised by the Sheriff’s Department on more than one occasion of the need for time extensions to respond, the department finally declared it had “determined that responsive records exist; however, the records requested are exempt from disclosure under the California Public Records Act.” It also directed Black Voice News to Riverside University Health System (RUHS) regarding a couple of items requested.
Although the public records requests made by Black Voice News occurred previous to the implementation of SB 519, we faced our own set of challenges securing the coroner’s reports and other items noted above without it. It is also highly probable this publication would have encountered similar stonewalling and denials subsequent to the passage of SB 519.
California is one of only three states where the coroner and sheriff can be the same person. Many believe it impedes transparency when one has the authority to investigate themselves and their organization. This year, Governor Newsom signed Assembly Bill 1108 (AB 1108) which now requires “independent medical investigations of in-custody deaths in county jails and state prisons to prevent actual or perceived conflicts of interest.”
Although some see this as a mediocre compromise to full transparency, Assemblymember Gregg Hart (D-Santa Barbara) who authored the legislation said he sought this option “primarily because of the additional costs to local government to create that entirely different department.”
I have difficulty buying this argument about costs. I would argue that it will cost us more not to separate the Sheriff’s Department from the Coroner especially when you consider the millions upon millions of dollars paid out by the county each year to compensate families for unwarranted deaths and the undue pain and suffering endured by their loved ones. Full transparency, oversight and accountability stand a good chance of helping to reduce maltreatment in local jails and save lives while also reducing lawsuits and costs to the county.
As Assembly Jackson has said, “Police don’t do a good job policing themselves and we must do that.”
I encourage you to join members of the Sheriff Accountability Coalition who are working to qualify a ballot initiative for the creation of a civilian oversight board and a separate Office of Inspector General to monitor county jails and the Riverside Sheriff’s Department. As I mentioned last week, please take a moment to sign the petition. If we truly want change, it is up to us to create it.
Of course, this is just my opinion. I’m keeping it real.