Family of Veteran Who Died by Suicide in a LA County Jail Sues Sheriff's Office
An investigation by the Los Angeles Public Press revealed that deputies were allegedly watching videos when they were supposed to be conducting welfare checks.
On September 22, 2023, 22-year-old Air Force veteran Maxwell Aguirre was found hanging in his cell at the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department’s Twin Towers Correctional Facility.
He was taken to the hospital, but never regained consciousness.
An investigation by the Los Angeles Public Press revealed that deputies were allegedly watching videos when they were supposed to be conducting welfare checks on Aguirre, who had attempted suicide a few weeks earlier, on September 3.
This week, his parents filed a wrongful death suit against the sheriff’s office, the county, and others, and are demanding that the state revoke the deputies’ peace officers’ certification.
“Instead of conducting these Title 15 security checks to make sure that folks aren’t getting killed in their jails, folks aren’t overdosing in their jails, folks aren’t getting raped in their jails, or killing themselves via asphyxiation, they were watching YouTube videos,” the family’s attorney Denisse Gastelum said at a news conference.
Shortly after Aguirre’s first suicide attempt at the jail, he was placed in “high observation mental health housing where he received routine follow-up care by the mental health team,” according to the complaint.
The conditions in the unit, however, were torturous.
“Within high observation housing, Maxwell had no access to books, human contact, sunlight, showers, and dignity,” the complaint says.
The complaint continues: “High Observation Housing becomes tantamount to clinically inappropriate punishment that can exacerbate the negative mental health condition pre-trial detainees, such as Maxwell Aguirre, were already experiencing.”
“There is no justice,” said Aguirre’s father, Omar Aguirre. “If there’s an allegation against you, if there’s a possibility that you might end up in custody, your life is at risk.”
Without an explanation, he was then moved to “moderate observation mental health housing, despite obvious signs of an ongoing mental health crisis,” the complaint says.
The Los Angeles Public Press reported on Aguirre’s last visit with his father, which occurred two weeks before his death:
[Aguirre] had been isolated for days on suicide watch, was nearly naked and shivering, dressed in only a thick quilt. He spoke to his father through a dirty, glass window: “Dad, there’s just no way I’m getting better here. There’s just no way.”
While Aguirre was in a coma, a nurse at the jail told his parents that their son was in stable condition, according to the complaint. They learned the truth when they arrived at the hospital a few days later.
“There is no justice,” said Aguirre’s father, Omar Aguirre, at the news conference. “If there’s an allegation against you, if there’s a possibility that you might end up in custody, your life is at risk.”
Since 2023, more than 50 people detained in Los Angeles county jails have died. Of those, at least 26 died by suicide, according to the complaint.
In September, the California Attorney General sued the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s office, the County, and others, alleging that the abhorrent conditions inside the county jails violated the detainees’ constitutional rights.
“Incarcerated persons are forced to live in filthy cells with broken and overflowing toilets, infestations of rats and roaches, and no clean water for drinking or bathing,” the Attorney General’s complaint says.
The complaint continues: “They are provided spoiled, moldy, and nutritionally inadequate meals; little to no access to hygiene items, such as soap, toilet paper, and menstrual products; and almost no time outside their cells.”
As of the filing of the Attorney General’s complaint, 36 people had died in the county jails since January, putting “the County on track to have more in-custody deaths in 2025 than at any time in the past twenty years.”
People are unable to access medical or mental health care, which the Attorney General says contributes “to the shocking rate of deaths inside the jails, many of which are caused by preventable circumstances, such as overdoses, suicides, or violence among incarcerated persons.”
As of the filing of the Attorney General’s complaint, 36 people had died in the county jails since January, putting “the County on track to have more in-custody deaths in 2025 than at any time in the past twenty years.”
Inspections of Twin Towers conducted earlier this year revealed atrocious conditions — multiple broken toilets, visible mold on the walls, and what appeared to be blood on walls, a mattress, and on the floor.
Sheriff’s deputies frequently humiliate people detained at the jails by conducting group strip searches in open areas, sometimes as punishment and retaliation, according to the complaint. In one instance at Twin Towers, people with mental health disabilities “were forced to undergo visual body cavity searches in large groups upon transfer from one intake housing area to a permanent housing area.”
Deputies ordered them “to pull their underwear down to their ankles, bend, cough, and spread their buttocks, as LASD deputies shined a flashlight between the cheeks of their buttocks.”
“We’re going to court because we have no other choice — we will not let Los Angeles County continue to ignore its responsibility to the health, safety, and well-being of the individuals under its care,” the Attorney General Rob Bonta said in a statement. “Los Angeles operates the largest jail system in the United States — and one of the most problematic.”
“When we’re talking about feces smeared on the walls and medical care denied to those in need, we’re talking about a disrespect for the basic dignity of our fellow humans and a violation of their most fundamental constitutional rights,” he continued. “We’re confident the court will agree.”
If you are experiencing suicidal, substance use or other mental health crises please call or text the new three-digit code at 988. You will reach a trained crisis counselor for free, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. You can also go to 988lifeline.org.
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