The name of an inmate who died while incarcerated at the Santa Barbara County Jail last December has been released.
The inmate has been identified as 69-year-old Benjamin Karsokas of Isla Vista, according to the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office, which withheld the name for a month until next of kin was notified.
Karsokas died after suffering a “cardiac-related medical emergency” on Dec. 26, said Kelly Hoover, the public information officer for the Sheriff’s Office. It appears that Karsokas died from natural causes, Hoover said.
Karsokas was in jail after being arrested for an outstanding failure-to-appear warrant and on suspicion of resisting arrest.
It was the second death to occur at the Santa Barbara County Jail in 2016. Hector Higareda, 38, died on Oct. 16 inside his jail cell from an apparent suicide, Hoover said.
This article appears in Feb 2-9, 2017.
