BY ADRIANA HERNANDEZ
Daily Post Staff Writer
The San Mateo County undersheriff says the sheriff’s jails are understaffed and officers are working overtime.
Six inmates have died in the jail since Sheriff Christina Corpus took office in January 2023. Of the six inmates who died, two committed suicide, three died from drug overdoses and one died of cancer.
For the jails to be fully staffed, they need 296 deputy sheriffs, but currently have only 264. There are 60 trainees currently undergoing training to become deputy sheriffs or correctional officers, according to a presentation by Undersheriff Dan Parea to the San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office Civilian Advisory Commission on June 4.
Commissioner Bill McClure asked Undersheriff Dan Perea, Lt. Mike Tabak and Lt. Jon Sebring if the number of positions available is enough to run the jails.
Many apply for job openings
Around 250 people are having their backgrounds checked, according to Perea.
“This is a very popular agency,” Perea said.
The deputy’s union has previously said that the office is struggling to stay fully staffed and employees continue to work a significant amount of overtime.
“We have tried to work out a policy and a system where we are not mandating people in for overtime,” Perea said.
The Maple Street Jail has one officer responsible for supervising 17 to 28 inmates. At the Maguire Jail, one officer is responsible for 13 to 17 inmates.
Perea said the office is currently creating a system to make sure officers take their breaks and keep track of their overtime. The system will also make sure there are enough officers to support training and that religious and medical services are taken care of, Perea said.
Death toll
This year, San Mateo, San Francisco and Alameda counties have only reported one death. Santa Clara and Monterey counties have reported two for this year.
Last year, San Mateo and San Francisco counties reported two deaths. Alameda County reported three deaths and Santa Clara County has the highest with 10.
In 2023, San Mateo and San Francisco counties reported three deaths. Santa Clara County reported five and Alameda and Monterey counties six.
In May, Corpus announced that she was implementing a hiring freeze after receiving so many applicants for trainee positions. She stopped hiring new correctional officers and deputy trainees, spokeswoman Gretchen Spiker said at the time.
The Sheriff’s Office has received over 350 applications for various positions, according to Spiker.
But the effort to fill the openings has had setbacks.
The Post has previously reported these incidents involving trainees at the Sheriff’s Office.
On April 24, Correctional Officer Jasmine De La Cruz was in the passenger seat of a white Cadillac sedan going 120 mph in Burlingame. CHP pursued the car until a fatal crash on Marsh Road in Menlo Park. The driver died, and De La Cruz was injured and taken to the hospital.
Trainee leaves gun in restaurant
In October, the Post reported that a jail deputy trainee left a gun in a fanny pack at Crepevine at 1310 Burlingame Ave. in Burlingame.
On Dec. 2, an alleged sexual assault between a male and female inmate happened due to a trainee transporting inmates incorrectly, according to emails the Post obtained between Judges Stephanie Garratt and Elizabeth Lee to Corpus.
Inmates who died
Six county jail inmates died since Corpus became sheriff:
• Maycarla Sulapas, 25, of South San Francisco, who was jailed for attacking a relative and acting erratically including being naked in the street. She had lethal levels of meth in her system when she died Jan. 7, 2023, the District Attorney’s office said.
• Peter Edward McLaughlin, 64 of Pacifica, who was arrested for threatening another person with a firearm. He died in the jail on Oct. 20, 2023 from brain cancer, which hadn’t been diagnosed previously.
• Ronald Simmons, 34, of San Bruno, who had been arrested for battery and making criminal threats. Authorities said Simmons had a history of depression and his death on Oct. 21, 2023 was ruled a suicide.
• Anthony Harding, 23, of Oakland, died Jan. 14, 2024 in the jail’s drug detox unit after his arrest for misappropriating lost property and resisting arrest.
• Hunter Bergner, 46, of Redwood City, died March 15, 2024 of an apparent suicide, though the final cause hasn’t been released. He was arrested for violating a protective order and possessing a gun against a court order.
• Kyle Harrison, 25, of Redwood City, died March 15, 2025 of an overdose of Methadone, an opioid; amitriptyline, an antidepressant and Gabapentin is a prescription medication used to treat epilepsy, neuropathy (nerve pain) and Restless Legs Syndrome. The trainee overseeing Harrison’s unit had a month’s training in the jail.
Uh, isn’t Parea aware of the 5/29/2025 SMSO News Release from Gretchen Spiker announcing, “As the San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office approaches full staffing of law enforcement personnel, Sheriff Christina Corpus is announcing the temporary pause of hiring entry level Correctional Officers and Deputy Sheriff Trainees.” Spiker also announced, “The Sheriff’s Office is currently fully staffed with Correctional Officers. Additionally, there are now only 31
vacancies for Deputy Sheriff positions.” That SO News Release is in the SO website. Parea’s June 4, 2025 is only six days after Corpus’ and Spiker’s 5/29/2025 declaratory News Release.
Last I checked, Correctional Officers only work in jail settings. What’s more, according to the latest PERB complaint from the DSA, the sheriff over hired correctional officers without conferring with the union, which had agreed to allow for 164 correctional officer positions. According to a vacancy report released by the Sheriff’s Office, Corpus has hired 172 people to the correctional officer position. Therefore, SMSO is overstaffed by 8 correctional officers. Yet Parea asserts the sheriff’s jails are understaffed.
Parea would have everyone believe that SMSO is 32-personnel understaffed. Yet dividing those 32 positions among four shifts (two days and two nights), that is only eight short per shift. Add in those eight over-highers evenly distributed and it’s six per shift short. What is most importantly missing is the actual inmate populations as well as the average daily population (ADP) in the jails overall, as well as in each facility. Jail managers actually know and track those factors. Those factors influence staffing needs.
As far as the ratio of inmates to staff, I cannot speak to the Maple Street complex staffing presently. However, there previously was a formal written agreement, between the SMSO & DSA, calling for one staff for every 64 inmates in the Maguire Facility. Of course, Parea has virtually no experience in managing correctional facilities such as those in San Mateo County. It appears Parea either doesn’t know what is going on in the department and correctional facilities he is charged to manage, or he is being deceptively untruthful.
Well I stand corrected to a degree. I sat through the YouTube presentation to the San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office Civilian Advisory Commission on June 4, after my above comment had been submitted. Average daily populations were included in a slide of the presentation, yet not explained by Parea. I’m not certain which was more challenging to listen to however, Parea or Commissioner Silano.
Parea explained the jail training program quite inaccurately. He explained how a trainee is assigned to a JTO (Jail Training Officer) who accompanies the trainee from assignment to assignment to complete the entire JTO Program in corrections. What actually happens is the trainee is rotated through a number of JTOs, each in their specialty assignment, each who train the new employee in their area of expertise. A nuanced difference in explanations, however highly significant to demonstrate that Parea has very little idea about any jail training program. Parea came from SFPD, who do not run the SF Jails; the SF Sheriff runs the jails there. Parea qualified his response as being based on his experience in the “profession”, which appears to have been rhetoric to mislead since he has no experience in corrections.
Moving to Commissioner Silano, he too was painful to listen to throughout the meeting. First, he repeatedly referred to the Commission as having “oversight” of the SO; it does no such thing. It is an advisory commission, and advising is exactly what Silano repeatedly launched into. The Chair had to rein Silano in more than once reminding him to only ask questions. Once, after asking the question, he said that he had the answer and would present it to the lieutenants. He later appeared argumentative with County staff in an effort to obtain documents available on the web. Silano has questionable qualifications and a clear conflict of interest as his son is a SMSO deputy sheriff. One might think he has his sights set on the position of sheriff.
Moving to the lieutenant’s presentations, they were the real deal; professional and spoken compassionately. Yet their presentation was restricted to Corpus’ term in office, so no real comparisons could be made to all prior jail operations there. One might guess that limitations were placed on them, which is why Parea accompanied them, along with their paid consultant to the Commission; I cannot say that for certain although it certainly gave that appearance. A surprise in the meeting was Corpus herself on Zoom, although she had no substantive contribution in her comments. She explained childcare inhibited her attendance, yet just gave the same song about preexisting personnel shortages when she assumed office, essentially blaming the prior administration. She too appears to have forgotten her fully staffed News Release less than a week before. Parea and Corpus both used words, yet explained little to nothing.
With the jail population split between the two facilities, and the conflicting information, it’s challenging to discern the truth. It is pretty clear the staff, supervisors and managers are working diligently under the circumstances they find themselves in and look forward to improvements.
Parea is a joke. No business being the Undersheriff. Sebring and Tabak are the real deal!
Rob Silano is a bozo. He does indeed have a conflict sitting on this board. His son is a deputy and he is an elected member of the Menlo Park Fire Protection District Board, which interacts with the sheriff. The fact that he thinks this committee has oversight powers shows how stupid he is. The thought of him becoming sheriff is ridiculous, but it could happen. Voters were dumb enough to elect Corpus — and now are paying the price for that bad decision.