Recalled California DA charges county jail staff in 2021 in-custody death of inmate

By The Associated Press

FILE - Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price attends a press conference, Wednesday, April 17, 2024, in Oakland, Calif. (Scott Strazzante/San Francisco Chronicle via AP)[ASSOCIATED PRESS/Scott Strazzante]

OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — A San Francisco Bay Area district attorney recalled in the Nov. 5 election filed criminal charges this week against 11 former and current staff of a county jail for the 2021 in-custody death of a man who was left unchecked in his cell for days.

Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price announced Thursday that felony dependent adult abuse charges were filed against seven county sheriff’s deputies, two former deputies and two medical staffers at Santa Rita Jail. If convicted, the maximum for each defendant is four years in state prison.

Three of the defendants are also charged with falsifying documents related to the death of Maurice Monk, 45, who was found unresponsive in his cell in November 2021 after a month in custody.

Price was elected in 2022 on a progressive platform that included holding corrections officials accountable for in-custody deaths. It is uncertain if her successor will pursue the charges after Price was ousted by voters in a rare recall election.

Monk was arrested in October after being accused of disorderly conduct and refusing to leave a transit bus. He was sent to jail after failing to appear on a bench warrant for a previous and unrelated misdemeanor offense on a transit bus line, her office said.

A lawsuit filed by Monk’s family said footage from jail deputies’ body cameras showed that the deputies as well as nurses dropped food and medication into Monk’s cell as he lay unresponsive for three days, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.

The county settled the family’s lawsuit for $7 million last year.