Part 1: Dying Inside: Why are more deaths happening in Shasta County Jail custody?

Every day, the memory of John Adena revisits his sisters. In 31 years of life, he moved from his childhood home in Hawaii to Redding, California, where he played high school football, fought fires and worked as a hospital aide.

In September 2019, he died in Shasta County Jail custody. His sisters don’t know how. They said the jail has given no explanation, and nine months after his death, the sheriff’s office — which oversees the jail — has yet to release an autopsy report, despite their requests.  

"It broke our hearts completely," said one sister, Angelina Odell. "It still doesn’t make sense to us. We don’t know what happened."

Adena's death in custody is one of 25 reported by the Shasta County Jail since 2006 — a number that one former California jail manager and expert witness described as “way too many, obviously.”

A Record Searchlight investigation into the number of jail deaths in Shasta County found:

‘No question about it:’ Some deaths are preventable

For the last six months, Cpt. Gene Randall has been the sheriff’s official tasked with running the jail. He acknowledges that some deaths in custody are ultimately preventable.

"There's no question about it," he said. 

Behind the volume of deaths in jail custody, there are autopsies, lawsuits and reports leading some families and outside experts to question how avoidable some deaths may have been.  

In 2016, a man found incompetent to stand trial died after developing pneumonia at the jail and not receiving treatment for it, sheriff’s records show. The coroner’s report stated he likely couldn't “keep food and saliva out of his airway,” with heroin and heart disease listed as contributing factors.

In 2018, jail video showed a man “screaming in agony” amid a methamphetamine overdose as guards laughed and insulted him rather than taking him to a hospital, according to a wrongful death lawsuit. Within two days, the overdose killed him. 

In 2019, records show a 42-year-old with schizophrenia complained of constipation and died of complications about three weeks later. Despite life-saving attempts, the death became the third in a two-week span.

What are some of the factors behind those numbers? Randall and others with jail experience said many people booked are already part of a vulnerable population. Some inmates are likely to receive better care within the jail than they would outside of it, and certain deaths are difficult to prevent, said Michael Hackett, past president of the Southern California Jail Manager’s Association.

Research shows California’s efforts to lower the state prison population — known as “realignment” — have thrust an added burden upon jails as they hold more convicted inmates whose longer sentences would before have been served in prison. In some cases, jails are mired in systemic challenges around staffing and funding.

However, most of these challenges are not unique to the Shasta County Jail, whose death rate still exceeds other jail systems of similar sizes.

Many county jail inmates suffer from mental health issues, and experts say they're at a disproportionate risk of suicide. In Shasta County, inmates with a documented risk of suicide have been found hanging in their cells within days. 

In 2015, Clifford Shaw was booked into the Shasta County Jail for allegedly violating probation in connection to alcohol. When he got to the jail, he told medical staff he had psychiatric problems. His wife said she told jail staff Shaw was suicidal and needed to be watched, records show.

Within five days, an inmate assaulted him. Five days after that, he hanged himself with a jail-issued towel, records show.

A pattern similar to Shaw’s took place again in 2018. Perry G. Juarez — a man with mental health issues who previously tried to kill himself — was booked, beaten, and then took his life. He died within three days.

“These inmates are not receiving the individual treatment, attention, empathy or care they need,” said Redding defense attorney Matt Izzi. “Our jail just isn’t equipped for that, nor is it the appropriate facility for that. It’s a detention facility — not a psych ward.”

Both Hackett — who previously managed the Imperial County jail system — and Izzi lamented the lack of local facilities dedicated to people with mental health issues.

“Oftentimes, these individuals just end up in the jail,” Hackett said. “And they become a real challenge for the sheriff’s office.”

When they resort to suicide, the timing is unsettlingly predictable.

Usually, the first few days after booking are critical because inmates are scared and in shock, said Lenard Vare, the former director of Napa County’s jail system.

Of 10 suicides in Shasta jail custody from 2012-2018, half came within the inmate’s first five days of incarceration, seven in the first two weeks, the Record Searchlight's analysis shows.

Randall, who has been running the Shasta County Jail since January, suggested the county's overall suicide rate is a factor. He said he believes the jail is equipped to look after inmates with mental health issues, but "quite frankly, there's going to be room for improvement as better treatments are identified."

As of January, about 30% of the jail’s population was on psychiatric medication, records show.