Some problems are so big, you need a wide-angle lens to see them. That's how bad conditions are at the Central Coast's county jails.

The Sun and New Times examined both the Santa Barbara County Jail and the SLO County Jail for this week's cover story. New Times Staff Writer Chris McGuinness landed the 2017 California Data Fellowship from the USC Annenberg Center for Health Journalism—which helped him learn everything from how to use tools to analyze piles of data to how to effectively share and extrapolate from that data—just to tell the story.

And it's a big story. Too big for an evening news report, or one page of newsprint. Inmates with any of a number of chronic health issues find it difficult to get access to the medications they need, bogged down by bureaucratic processes. People die there, it's happened dozens of times since 2000, and many of the deaths are deemed "natural" by investigators.

I don't know how "natural" it is for someone suffering a heart attack to be sent back to their cell. Or how about a diabetic not receiving the insulin they need before every meal, how "natural" is that?

Santa Barbara County faces a class action lawsuit over the conditions at its jail, and SLO County's jail is under investigation by the FBI for possible civil rights violations. It's important to remember the humanity in these cases—people dying alone on a cold floor, their lifeless bodies surrounded by medical staff there too late to help. Citizens shouldn't have to sue for some common dignity and care, no matter what side of the law they are on.

When I take a look at the bigger picture here, I see a serious lack of accountability for county jails in the state. California only started tracking patient deaths in 2008, and that same requirement should apply to sheriff's departments as well. Where's the incentive to investigate these deaths, whether deemed "natural" or not? Apparently our local sheriff's departments are tracking the problem, but they don't make the info publicly available.

Sheriffs are mostly kept accountable by constituents, and here we are, smack dab in the middle of an election year! It's pretty darn important for any candidate, but especially an incumbent, to be forthcoming with information.

Both Santa Barbara County Sheriff Bill Brown and SLO County Sheriff Ian Parkinson are running for re-election on June 5, and both are facing challengers. Brown has two, his own Lt. Brian Olmstead and Lt. Eddie Hsueh, who think they can manage the Sheriff's Office better.

There are many on the Central Coast who wish these incumbent sheriffs had been more proactive on the issue of access to health care in the jails. They could have lost friends or family who were held in either facility, maybe even those just awaiting trial. Maybe they don't know anybody directly but keep up on the news, or have seen the video of Andrew Holland dying at the SLO County Jail, and want it all to stop, or at least get better. We won't know until June how important the problem is to Central Coast voters.

An issue this widespread is bigger than just a sheriff, though. It goes down to the roots of the system—so many moving parts are involved. That's why solutions need to be multi-faceted, comprehensive, and extensive. One little tweak isn't going to fix it.

I think the Santa Maria City Council wised up about that as well when it decided not to extend an emergency ordinance that would cap the number of farmworkers staying in the city through the federal H-2A housing program. Housing on the Central Coast is another huge, wide-ranging issue, which butts up against another complex problem—the ag industry labor shortage. That little tweak to city housing code could have made both issues worse.

Could it be, were they actually listening when I said as much on April 12 ("Making it worse")? Finally, a receptive audience!

It appears that the council was caught up in a classic NIMBY (not in my back yard) panic after complaints from a few vocal residents.

Santa Maria is not immune to NIMBYism. Plenty complained about the new county jail currently being built near Santa Maria. Hello! It's actually going to have adequate medical facilities! Now they complain about a federally vetted farmworker housing program being near them. Did you miss all the rows of strawberries and broccoli when you rolled into town?

But hey, hardly anyone complained about all the development on Betteravia, which feels so Oxnard now. That's Santa Maria priorities for you right there!

People (and council members) need to be realistic and try to see the bigger picture. Santa Maria is the largest city on the Central Coast, it's an agricultural center, home to several other industries, a bedroom community for those who work in other areas, and it only keeps growing! If I were running for a seat on the council, like Jack Boysen and Etta Waterfield, I would make housing my top priority.

Well, we'll see who's listening! 

The Canary is a small bird in the big city. Send your thoughts to [email protected].

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