Another death at county jail

“The general population pod the woman was housed in received a routine safety check a short time prior,” Gretchen Spiker, director of communications, said in a press release.

The circumstances surrounding the death are under investigation by the District Attorney’s Office, Coroner’s Office and the Sheriff’s Office investigations bureau.

The death comes just a few days after a 30-person brawl inside Maguire Correctional Facility downtown Redwood City broke out, leading to multiple incarcerated persons and Sheriff’s Office personnel injured.

In response to the fight, the deputies’ and sergeants’ unions said the incident was a result of low staffing numbers and a strained rank-and-file. They did not provide comment on the in-custody death Monday.

Three weeks before the brawl occurred, the Organization of Sheriff’s Sergeants sounded an alarm over chronic understaffing to Corpus. A cease-and-desist letter sent Sept. 9 said Corpus’ decision to reduce staffing flexibility and force deputies to work in unsafe conditions “would endanger lives.”

“Deploying physically exhausted and emotionally fatigued personnel against their will to serve in critical public safety assignments is fraught with risk, and completely avoidable where other employees are ready, willing and available to share in the workload,” the cease-and-desist letter read.

Corpus dismissed these concerns, the OSS said.

The death Monday is the seventh since Corpus took office at the beginning of 2023.

Most recently, Kyle Harrison, 25, died from an overdose at the Maple Street Correctional Facility in March. Hunter Bergner, 46, died by suicide in March 2024 at the Maguire Correctional Facility. Anthony Harding, 23, died January 2024 in the detox unit at the Maguire Correctional Facility. Ronald Simmons, 34, died by suicide October 2023 at the Maguire Correctional Facility. Peter McLaughlin, 64, died from previously undiagnosed brain cancer in October 2023 at the Maguire Correctional Facility. Maycarla Sulapas, 25, died at the hospital after being tased with lethal levels of meth in her system in January 2023.

Jim Lawrence, board chair of Fixin’ San Mateo County, said the death Monday morning is reflective of a larger trend. Fixin’ San Mateo County is a nonprofit focused on establishing accountability and transparency within the criminal justice system.

“The continuing trend of in-custody deaths in San Mateo County is deeply troubling and points to systemic failures in our local criminal legal system — particularly regarding mental health care, medical oversight, and transparency,” Lawrence said.

As of Monday afternoon, the San Mateo County Coroner’s Office has yet to identify the 31-year-old woman nor the cause of death.

ana@smdailyjournal.com

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