Re “‘No meaningful treatment’: Doctor says San Diego County jails are the worst he’s ever seen” (May 9): Over the 45-plus years I’ve lived in San Diego, the degree to which the county Board of Supervisors genuflect to the sheriff never ceases to amaze me. Sure, the sheriff is independently elected, and the board can’t control that, but on the other hand the board alone decides the sheriff’s budget and salary. Why pay top dollar for poor performance?
Meantime, the U-T reports that failed practices “have led to dozens of lawsuits and cost taxpayers tens of millions of dollars in recent years.” Many of those lawsuits involve death and serious injury in the jails managed by the sheriff.
If supervisors care, why oh why don’t they use the levers of power available to them to bring about change? Or is it easier to just acquiesce and feign impotence? Regardless, the Board of Supervisors bears a substantial degree of responsibility for the sheriff’s failures, and for its own inaction.
— B. Chris Brewster, Pacific Beach
