Supervisors Approving Tasers in the Jails Ignores History of In-Custody Deaths
By Jose Valle
It's been a long struggle to keep Tasers out of Santa Clara County Jail. Despite community concerns for alternatives to incarceration and a decades’ long struggle against tasers in our jails, Supervisors Arenas, Chavez and Simitian voted to pass a taser pilot in our jail in September of this year.
Supervisor Ellenberg was left as the lone No vote, and Supervisor Lee abstained from voting because of his concerns with potential taser use against the mental health jail population.
History of Tasers in Jails and Prisons
In 1989, 37-year-old Jeffrey Leonti unfortunately passed away after being tased while in custody in Santa Clara County Jail. Mr. Leonti’s parents settled a wrongful death lawsuit for $650,000, nearly $1.2 million today. We haven't had tasers in our jail since.
After a handful of deaths of the detained in the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) who had mental health issues, the Gates v. Deukmejian (1990) and Coleman v. Wilson (1995) settlements ended the use of tasers in prison.
In 2004, SJPD started using tasers and after only one year, Steve Salinas unfortunately passed after being tased out in the community. Mr. Salinas' family was awarded $1 million from the City of San Jose after taking them on in federal court.
The current Santa Clara County Sheriff Jonsen’s original proposal to fund 1,100 tasers in both the jail and community was argued to combat increased out-of-cell time, a federal consent decree mandate (Chavez v. Santa Clara) after thousands of prisoners in Santa Clara County went on a hunger strike to end inhumane conditions and indefinite solitary confinement based solely on classification.
New Tasers, Same Deadly Use
This argument felt all too familiar, reminiscent of former Sheriff Laurie Smith’s comment “The more you let them out together, the more fights you’re going to have.” Of course this comment was also reactionary to the heat Sheriff Laurie Smith was getting for depriving prisoners from time out of cell and the murder of mental health detainee Michael Tyree, who was waiting on a bed to be released.
Our current Sheriff, no different from Laurie Smith, exploits the fear of the “violent inmate boogeyman” while completely neglecting mental health care in our county that predominantly uses tear gas and violence against people experiencing mental health issues in our jails.
The Sheriffs didn’t need tasers to be found guilty of murder for beating Michael Tyree to death, awarding Michael Tyree’s family with a $3.6 million settlement or the Chavez v. Santa Clara County federal consent decree.
Tasers seem to only serve the capitalist interests of Axon, the prison industrial complex and the Sheriff's reactionary response to jail reforms after being held accountable.
Because Axon has shifted liability from itself to its customers, only the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors should be held responsible for any future deaths due to tasers -- and in the public’s eye specifically Supervisors Arenas, Chavez and Simitian who voted for the pilot.
My Heart Goes out to Other Families Whose Loved Ones May Be Tased in the Jail
Cynthia Longs
I'm very concerned and upset with the decision of the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors Joe Simitian, Cindy Chavez and Sylvia Arenas voting to allow a pilot for tasers to be used in the main jail. Although my son is no longer there, I know other people there, and my heart goes out to them and their families.
In addition to being frustrated, after hearing all of the comments against tasers the vote does not make sense. I am afraid for those inside who are already confined and exposed to poor treatment and inhumane conditions. Remember these folks have not had their day in court. Mentally ill, Black, Brown, vulnerable innocent people will be murdered by law enforcement with tasers. It’s inevitable because law enforcement officers who claim they feel threatened are given authorization to tase and murder those confined. In some cases officers will use tasers for any reason they feel.
Officers have enough power over those confined. Adding tasers to tear gas does not make sense. Tasers will only subject those inside to more cruelty.
Tasers are not even used in CDCR. How can tasers be ok to use in our jails?
After all of the meetings, rallies, and public comments against the use of tasers detailing the harm that tasers cause, it’s not clear to me what the Sheriff, Joe Simitian, Cindy Chavez and Sylvia Arenas' motivations could be.
Having tasers in the jail increases the chance of being killed in our jail. The pilot program with dates October 15, 2024 through October 14, 2029 is too long. Why is the pilot time length so long? Does it take this much time to guarantee the seller, Axon, an amount of money which seems to be the key motive in this deal? This pilot will kill the confined and vulnerable for greed.
Going forward we must be cautious and vote for people who listen to the community. Our Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors must have the community’s best interest front and center. The vote on September 10th 2024 reveals the opposite.
When my son was in the Santa Clara County Jail, he told me he didn’t think he was going to make it home. His saw his chances of getting killed in the jail by correctional officers was 50/50. Now with tasers, if he was there the chances of him getting killed inside the jail would be greater, a 75% probability. Having the tasers in our jail is bad for our community.
Why Give Sheriffs Another Weapon to Kill Our Family Members?
Chandra Jacquez
It’s unfortunate that the three Supervisors - Joe Simitian, Sylvia Arenas and Cindy Chavez voted to let sheriff’s be armed with Tasers. Do they all understand that tasers still kill people? Since my father was killed in August 2015, I have worked alongside other families who also lost a loved one to police violence. On behalf of the families we work with at De-Bug, we believe that there are other ways to deescalate a situation that does not include deadly force brought upon by tasers.
More than half of those families lost their loved ones while having a mental health crisis. Regardless if law enforcement knew of their mental health or not, law enforcement did not know how to properly deescalate the situation. We do not want any more families losing their loved ones, and tasers will only make that more likely to happen.
Do the Supervisors realize that one hit from a taser IS lethal and they want to allow tasers to be used multiple times on a person?! Who will be accountable for a loved one's death when a sheriff uses a taser? Giving law enforcements attitudes, tasers is not a deescalating tactic, it IS a deadly weapon! Those three Supervisors are to blame for every single death in the community and the jails once it rolls out!
I do not believe that there is a such thing as ’safe’ taser even if it's the 'Taser 10 - Axon’s latest', it can cause harm to a person which can end a person’s life. This will create fear amongst the community - another law enforcement agency with yet another deadly weapon. We have seen time and time again where there is no proper logged information, body cameras weren’t working, etc, so I can already see this being another weapon that harms and kills loved ones that doesn’t have a true and accurate report or accountably.
