Supervisors Awarded $4.1 Million to LA Sheriff’s Department Victims Amid Surge in In-Custody Deaths

LOS ANGELES —The county spent 99 million dollars in litigation costs for LASD in 2024 and over $150 million dollars the year before. 2025 officially has the highest rate of in-custody deaths in the last 20 years, averaging one death every six days. Three people died on March 30 alone, the four year anniversary of the county’s close Men’s Central Jail report which outlined how to close the jail in 18-24 months. Another person died five days ago. The JusticeLA Coalition held a community protest and press conference April 8 outside of the LA County Board of Supervisors meeting. 

JusticeLA Coalition noted, while the April 8 Board of Supervisors meeting is timely and important, this crisis coincides with two events happening at the April 8 board meeting. 

1. The Supervisors will be paying out $4.1 million dollars in settlements against LASD. The board will also be approving the settlement for the Vargas family litigation (Item 29). Anthony Vargas was killed by LASD deputy gang members in 2019, and his aunt Stephanie Luna spoke at the rally before the meeting. Further, LASD settlements cost taxpayers billions with no accountability for deputies.
2. The jail closure implementation team or JCIT received staff and are set to present April 15 at the board (Item 22). Despite unanimous alignment from voters around jail closure, Measure J, and other care-based initiatives in the county for years, LA County has consistently faltered in the implementation stages. Having the jail closure implementation team present at the board is a huge milestone and could set the stage for actual progress—or regression.
3. The board has still not added the in-custody death crisis to their agenda, or called Sheriff Luna to address these deaths. 16 have died this year so far.

Men’s Central Jail was due to be closed by March 30, 2023 and the JusticeLA coalition has been fighting for implementation of the community-based care services needed not only to close the jail, but to care for LA’s most vulnerable communities.