S.E. Williams
Overview: A Grand Jury report has revealed that Riverside County’s Larry D. Smith jail facility could have prevented the death of 24-year-old James Dennis Hirt on Christmas Day 2024, had staff followed established policies and procedures. The report also highlights issues with the county’s jail facilities, including a lack of adequate medical and mental health staff, which had previously been identified in a 2013 federal lawsuit. Meanwhile, Riverside County’s controversial sheriff, Chad Bianco, faces criticism for his management of county jails and faces a Civil Rights Pattern or Practice investigation by the Department of Justice.
24-year-old James Dennis Hirt died in Riverside County’s Larry D. Smith jail facility on Christmas Day 2024.
A newly published Riverside County Grand Jury investigation into Hirt’s death revealed it could have been prevented had the staff (under Bianco’s leadership) at the county’s Robert Presley Detention Facility followed established policies and procedures.
The Grand Jury report further includes a quote given to a local reporter by Riverside’s Trump-loving Sheriff, Chad Bianco, explaining his perception of the quality of service provided by his department at the county’s jail facilities.
“We do an industry-leading fantastic job in our corrections division and are not responsible for any of these deaths,” he proclaimed.
Yet, a 2023 Black Voice News (BVN) investigation into a spike in county jail deaths that occurred in Riverside County jails in 2022, found issues related to those deaths similar to issues revealed in a 2013 federal lawsuit that forced Riverside County to improve the care of those held at local jails as well as during its in-take procedures and other processes.
In 2023, a decade after a court-monitored settlement in the case, the jails in Riverside County had yet to meet all requirements defined under the ongoing consent decree (an agreement with the plaintiffs) in the lawsuit. At the time of BVN’s report, the county had complied with only 13 of the roughly 80 provisions detailed in the consent decree.
“A bad boss brings losses and problems to his organization.”
Bill Courtney
Although the court no longer monitors the 13 items in compliance, the 67 other provisions in the decree, including things like sustaining an adequate medical and mental health staff to care for people in custody and effectively evaluating and housing people with the most severe mental health problems remained in dispute.
