Full Notification

San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department Successful in Complying with Medical Provisions of Jail Consent Decree

The San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department is pleased to announce it has successfully met the jail medical standard requirements in a consent decree it has been operating under since December 2018.          

In 2016, the Prison Law Office began discussions with the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department to develop a remedial plan to improve medical and mental health care, ADA accommodations, use of force, and restrictive housing for incarcerated people.    

Through a cooperative process with the Prison Law Office, the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department developed a remedial plan to improve conditions of confinement for incarcerated people in all areas of the consent decree and began working toward achieving the standards outlined in the remedial plan and accompanying consent decree. 
 
Soon after the consent decree was signed, the County Board of Supervisors approved the additional staffing needed to meet these standards and the Sheriff’s Department worked tirelessly to implement the needed improvements. Many of these improvements were accomplished while the Department was also dealing with state restrictions associated with a global pandemic.  

In September of 2023, following negotiations between the County and the Prison Law Office, the court approved a revised remedial plan that completely removed provisions for monitoring dental care, and restrictive housing.  The revised remedial plan also substantially reduced monitoring associated with medical and mental health care. This revision in the remedial plan was a result of significant improvements made by the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department and its agreement to implement important new policies. 

On July 15, 2024, United States District Judge the Honorable Jesus G. Bernal Signed a stipulation removing medical care monitoring from the remedial plan. This stipulation, while guided by collaboration with the Prison Law Office, was the result of the direct efforts of the men and women who diligently work for the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department. The team of medical professionals, custody staff, and members of the leadership team who met the required benchmarks are a great example of the capabilities of the Department and the County of San Bernardino. 

“We commend the Sheriff’s Department for the significant reforms it has made over the years and for its commitment to sustaining these reforms into the future,” said Tess Borden, supervising staff attorney at the Prison Law Office.  “We have appreciated the thoughtful collaboration with the Sheriff, Department executives and jail leadership and are confident San Bernardino will continue its efforts to provide quality health care to people in its jails and to serve as a model for other jurisdictions.”




Refer:  Public Affairs Division

Phone: 909-387-3700