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Activists protest mental health wing expansion of Santa Rita Jail
Restore Oakland activists marched from the courthouse to the supervisors' office to protest an $80M mental health wing expansion of Santa Rita Jail.
OAKLAND, Calif. - A multitude of community organizers and interfaith leaders on Tuesday are urging the Alameda County Board of Supervisors to stop its plans to build a new mental health facility at the Santa Rita Jail.
About two dozen clergy and 60 laymembers of various religious groups, who comprise the Interfaith Coalition for Justice in our Jails, attended the supervisors' meeting on Tuesday to say that a new building will not do anything to improve the mental health care at the jail, where 68 people have died since 2014.
Micky Duxbury, a member of the Stop Deaths in the Jail Campaign, specifically cited KTVU's reporting of Maurice Monk, an Oakland man who was left languishing in his cell for days before he was actually found dead in November 2021, as one of the "woefully inadequate" examples of care provided at the jail.
Exclusive body camera video obtained by KTVU shows no one physically checked on Monk, who was seen lying half naked on his bunk, for at least three days, possibly four. And when deputies finally found the 45-year-old's body, stacks of uneaten food trays and pills lay scattered about the floor near an oblong puddle of urine by the foot of his bed.
Sheriff Yesenia Sanchez has declined all comment on Monk's death, citing a lawsuit, which has now settled for $7 million.
Nataha Baker was just one of the many speakers who told the supervisors that more money should be invested in the community instead of on settlements like Monk's.
None of the supervisors responded for comment, although their argument in the past has been that like it or not, the jail ends up housing incarcerated people with mental illnesses and they need a special wing to provide the best services they can.
Critics, however, argue that mentally ill people should not receive care in a cage.
Later in the day, other community members held a rally called "No Jails on Stolen Land."
They marched from the Rene C. Davidson Courthouse to the Board of Supervisors offices.
Like the interfaith group, Restore Oakland spokeswoman Joy George said they are demanding an immediate halt to the proposed expansion of Santa Rita Jail, and want instead, significant investments in jail diversion, housing and community mental health services.
"We are beyond fixing Santa Rita; we need to be focused on getting people out, keeping them out, and investing in their well-being," George said ahead of the rally.
The proposed expansion of Santa Rita Jail will cost over $80 million, $26.6 million of which Alameda County has agreed to provide from its own funding sources.
Expanding the mental health wing of the jail has been debated since at least 2015.
Lisa Fernandez is a reporter for KTVU. Email Lisa at lisa.fernandez@fox.com or call her at 510-874-0139. Or follow her on Twitter @ljfernandez