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Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco on prison deaths

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In a recent video discussing inmate deaths in Riverside County jails, Sheriff Chad Bianco made several false and misleading claims about his department's transparency with local media and state authorities. For example, he falsely claimed that his department provided “unfettered access” to news outlets reporting on the issue.

Bianco discussed the issue in an “RSO Roundup” episode posted on the sheriff's department's YouTube channel on Aug. 2. Bianco discusses a range of topics – state-level crime policy, mental health issues, the rising prevalence of fentanyl – and describes “a disturbing trend of disinformation emanating from anti-police media,” specifically citing The Desert Sun and The Press-Enterprise.

“We have offered (the outlets) unrestricted access to everything we have and they either don't accept that information or they don't want it,” he added.

But that claim is inaccurate, according to a review of earlier reports by The Desert Sun newspaper, which shows that the sheriff's department repeatedly ignored journalists' requests for more information and provided no further information about the jail deaths other than brief press releases.

When a reporter noted Bianco's statement about “unrestricted access” and asked this week for investigative records on jail deaths, a meeting with sheriff's officials and a jail visit, Bianco declined. The sheriff said through a spokesman that news outlets he believes are unfair or untruthful “will not be given any information other than press releases and information we are legally required to provide” due to public records laws.

Bianco also said in the video that California's attorney general was “fully informed of every single death in our prisons” – a misleading statement that ignores the fact that the sheriff's department violated the law when it failed to promptly report the deaths of at least two incarcerated people to state authorities in 2022, the year prison deaths hit a record high.

The video comes as the California Attorney General's Office continues to investigate whether the department violated civil rights, prompted in part by what Attorney General Rob Bonta called a “disturbing” increase in deaths in the county's jails. Bianco called the attorney general “100% dishonest” in the latest video.

The Desert Sun reviewed Bianco's statements and found several of them to be false or misleading.

Claim: The ministry has offered local news agencies “unrestricted access to everything we have.”

Facts: Key information about some in-custody deaths only became public through federal lawsuits or public records requests. And after the video was released, Bianco told The Desert Sun he would not release any more information.

Despite Bianco's claims, key information about many of those who died in prison, including their identities, was not made public until after their families filed lawsuits or The Desert Sun and other outlets made public records requests.

For example, in September 2022, the agency had publicly identified only one person who had died in a prison that year, out of 13 deaths reported to that point. The Desert Sun repeatedly asked for more information about the increase in deaths in 2022, but those requests went unanswered.

The sheriff's department also declined previous requests from the Desert Sun for written records detailing the cause of death, saying the law allows them to withhold that information because the investigation is ongoing.

After the video was released, The Desert Sun requested more information about the recent deaths in custody, but Bianco said he would not grant the newspaper further access.

“The Desert Sun (New York Times) or any other publication or reporter that has shown that the truth plays no role in its false representations of prison deaths will receive no information other than press releases and information that we are legally required to provide after filing under (the California Public Records Act),” Bianco said in an email.

He did not explain why he cited the New York Times. But Christopher Damien, a reporter for the Desert Sun who has covered the sheriff's department and jail deaths, is working with the Times on a year-long fellowship, with his work published in both newspapers during the year.

Bianco also cited a state law that says the sheriff's department is not required to release “investigative reports and records,” adding, “I will continue to use legitimate media and our social media platforms to point out and correct the obvious bias in your articles.”

There was also a small discrepancy in the death statistics Bianco cited in the video: He said there were 18 in-custody deaths in 2022, 13 in 2023 and two in June 2024, when the video was taken. Records submitted to the California Department of Justice show there were 19 deaths in 2022, 14 in 2023 and three in June 2024.

When asked why the numbers differ by one each year, Bianco did not answer.

Claim: The California Attorney General was “fully informed of every single death in our custody” in 2022.

Facts: The sheriff's department violated the law when it failed to promptly report the deaths of at least two people in jail custody in 2022. The California Department of Justice only received some reports after The Desert Sun asked about them.

Law enforcement agencies are required to report information about people who die in their custody to the California Department of Justice within 10 days. Records requests filed by The Desert Sun showed the sheriff's department failed to do so in at least two deaths that occurred in the jails between May and July 2022.

The Justice Department did not receive the reports from the Sheriff's Department until August 2022, after The Desert Sun requested them. At the time, the Sheriff's Department did not respond to The Desert Sun's request for comment regarding the delay in reporting.

In addition to reporting the deaths late, the Sheriff's Department provided false information to the Justice Department, saying that in 12 of the 13 cases, a verdict had already been reached by the time of their deaths in 2022. In fact, none of the defendants had.

Claim: There has “never been the slightest allegation” that prison officials have caused the death of an inmate.

Facts: Although there are no allegations that a deputy intentionally caused an inmate's death, several lawsuits have been filed alleging that the department was negligent or failed to monitor an inmate's welfare before his or her death. Most of these federal cases are ongoing.

Despite Bianco's claim, several lawsuits have alleged negligence on the part of the department's correctional officers over the past three years, with about a dozen lawsuits filed on behalf of inmates who died in 2022 and 2023.

For example, the parents of transgender woman Kaushal Niroula filed a lawsuit alleging that the authorities' negligence had made it possible for the woman to be killed by a cellmate who was a sex offender with a violent past.

The lawsuit states that sheriff's employees knew that the cellmate posed an immediate threat to Niroula, who is particularly vulnerable as a transgender and HIV-positive woman. Nevertheless, the sheriff's department allowed the two to be housed together at the Cois Byrd Detention Center in Murrieta.

The complaint also states that no prison staff came to Niroula during the 68 minutes of beating, despite the prison authorities' obligation to conduct a security check of the cell once an hour and generally protect inmates from violence.

The lawsuit states that Niroula died just three days before her trial was due to begin. She was accused of being part of a group that attacked and killed a 74-year-old man in Palm Springs.

The lawsuit is one of several filed in recent years accusing the department of negligence. Other lawsuits have alleged that the death of a family member in custody was due to a lack of training and failure to provide timely emergency medical care.

In the ongoing proceedings, further details of the incidents will emerge as evidence is exchanged through a legal process known as discovery of evidence.

This story contains earlier reporting by Christopher Damien.

Tom Coulter covers the middle valley. You can reach him at [email protected].

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