Under the policy, a task force was formed to put forth recommendations in accordance with the policy’s goals. The Care First Community Coalition championed “Care First, Jails Last,” a policy Alameda County adopted in 2021 to expand community services and reduce the number of people with mental health issues and drug dependency incarcerated at Santa Rita Jail. The jail has seen numerous overdose deaths, including eight over a two-week period in early February, the Mercury News reported. A majority of the deaths have been either drug-related or the result of exacerbated, and poorly treated, mental health issues, advocates said at a protest in April. It marked the fifth reported death at the jail this year.Īdvocacy groups like Critical Resistance, Restore Oakland and the Care First Community Coalition have rallied outside the jail to protest the number of in-custody deaths. Last week, a prisoner whose name has not been released, died after he was found frantically drinking water and vomiting inside his cell. Svarda’s situation follows a string of controversies at Santa Rita Jail. Svarda told KTVU that he and other prisoners are urging jail officials to address a bevy of alleged issues: retaliation from staff, delayed or no medical care, moldy bathrooms, poor working conditions and missing mail. As for Svarda’s claims that he swallowed a staple, Modeste said, “I don’t believe anything he says.” I don’t believe he was ever on a hunger strike,” she said. “I have a very difficult time believing that somebody who starved themselves for two weeks only lost two pounds. He managed to pull it out, but he told her he did not receive adequate medical attention after the incident. “He felt like he was choking,” she added. Svarda began the strike late last month after swallowing a staple in his breakfast that became lodged in his throat, Svarda’s friend Hana Sallak, who has been in daily contact with Svarda, said he told her. I still haven’t eaten their food, because it’s traumatizing that trash is in the food. But I’m still holding them accountable, I’m still putting in grievances. “I’m afraid if I go too far, they’ll just let me die. “My health was declining way too fast,” Svarda said, noting that he’s now relying on food purchased from the commissary rather than eating meals provided by the jail. He ended his protest Monday, he said, for fear that jail staff would not help him if he were to face a health emergency as a result of the strike. Jazz Svarda, 34, was among several prisoners taking part in a hunger strike for about two weeks at Santa Rita Jail, an Alameda County facility with a history of health and safety violations. A prisoner at an infamous California jail led a hunger strike to protest poor food quality, lacking medical care and retaliation from jail staff.
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