Deputies ignored man as he choked on Santa Rita Jail wristband in preventable' death, lawsuit says

"For an hour and 21 minutes, Jose Pina Cardenas gasped and writhed on the floor of his Santa Rita Jail cell with a plastic wristband lodged in his throat, according to a federal lawsuit filed by his five children. But instead of helping him, multiple Alameda County sheriff's deputies allegedly dismissed his distress as talking and falsified a colleague's initials on a cell-check log, according to the lawsuit. His cell went unchecked for 52 minutes, the lawsuit claims."

"The lawsuit represents the latest in a string of legal filings alleging deeply problematic management and neglectful care at the jail, one of the nation's largest and the location of several inmate deaths over the past decade. In February 2022 just months before Cardenas' death a federal judge approved a sweeping consent decree mandating a host of reforms at the jail, many of them aimed at improving mental health treatment."

"Cardenas himself had a history noted in his jail medical file of suicide attempts and suffered from several mental conditions, including schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and multiple personality disorder. His treatment at the jail demonstrated a lack of humanity, said Zachary Linowitz, an attorney for Cardenas' family who worked as an Alameda County deputy district attorney tasked with prosecuting alleged wrongdoing by law enforcement officers."

Jose Pina Cardenas gasped and writhed for an hour and 21 minutes with a plastic wristband lodged in his throat in a Santa Rita Jail cell. Alameda County sheriff's deputies allegedly dismissed his distress as talking, falsified a colleague's initials on a cell-check log, and left his cell unchecked for 52 minutes. Cardenas had documented suicide attempts and diagnoses including schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and multiple personality disorder. His five children allege his June 2022 death was preventable and resulted from systemic deliberate indifference toward mentally ill inmates. A federal consent decree issued months earlier mandated reforms to improve mental health treatment at the jail.

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