On May 24, there was a vigil at the Alameda County Board of Supervisors building in Oakland to protest the deaths at Santa Rita Jail.  I counted about 15 religious professionals (including me) and about 150 other attendees. Two people from Reaching Across attended. Here's a link to the Channel 2 news story on our vigil: https://www.ktvu.com/video/1073552.  

At the vigil we solemnly read the names of the 63 people who had died in Alameda County Jail since 2014, and had posters with their names.  Some of the family members were in attendance and they or their attorneys spoke.  The message was that Sheriff Ahren runs a jail with a much higher death rate than any other counties, and his solution is to settle with the family members who sue him for millions of dollars, rather than improving conditions.  The leading cause of death is suicide and many of the prisoners have serious mental illness.  The conditions are horrific and he has been sued and settled with the US Justice department over that.  He needs to be held accountable by the Board of Supervisors and hopefully replaced in this year’s election.  But this problem isn’t going to be easy to solve.  There aren’t adequate places for these prisoners to go to in the mental health system.  We’re hoping that this demonstration is a start in making the big public stink it will take to make a difference.