San Diego County settles jail meth death for $2.3 million

The county has agreed to pay $2.3 million to the family of a man who died in San Diego’s central jail in 2012 from a drug overdose, the second time in less than two years that taxpayers have funded a multimillion-dollar settlement over an inmate’s death.

The parents of Bernard Victorianne sued the sheriff’s department in 2014, claiming that jail staff knew the 28-year-old swallowed a baggie of methamphetamine and then failed to act on obvious signs of medical distress for days.

Both sides agreed on Aug. 2 to settle the case. Later that day, in a closed session meeting, the Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to approve the settlement.

The lawsuit, filed by attorneys Julia Yoo and Eugene Iredale, argued that Victorianne’s death was the result of "a systemic failure to investigate incidents of misconduct and deaths in the jail.”

Read more: http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/2016/aug/30/bernard-victorianne-settlement/