The following story was first printed in Saturday’s Daily Post. To get important local news first, pick up the Post in the mornings.
A fight involving about 30 inmates broke out at the Maguire Jail in Redwood City yesterday, leaving six inmates and four deputies injured, with unions saying the fight was a result of a dangerous staffing shortage.
The brawl erupted as the county Board of Supervisors decides whether to fire Corpus.
The fight broke out around 10:45 a.m. Friday, sending six inmates to the hospital, according to sheriff’s office spokeswoman Gretchen Spiker. Three of the officers injured are part of the deputies’ union, and one was a correctional officer who was sent to the hospital for treatment. None of the injuries were life-threatening, according to union spokeswoman Briana Gallo.
The sergeants’ union has warned Corpus that having the jails understaffed was unsafe for both inmates and deputies, according to a letter the union’s lawyer sent her on Sept. 3.
Corpus’s decision to reduce staffing in the jails would expose deputies to unsafe conditions that would endanger lives, Gallo said in a statement.
Corpus said on Aug. 12 that sergeants weren’t allowed to work overtime to assist with inmate transportation or work in the jails, according to the sergeants’ union.
The unions asked her to retract her statement because there is a need for overtime to keep the jails running, because of how understaffed it was.
There has been an increase in inmate-on-inmate assaults due to staffing issues, Gallo said.
The sheriff’s office did not respond to the Post’s questions on the increase in incidents in the jails.
Deputy Union President Carlos Tapia said in a memo to Corpus on Aug. 13 that many of the new hires who will work in the jails are still in training and aren’t able to help much.
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, Spiker said at the time.
Corpus said that there are many reasons why the sheriff’s office can not cover overtime, one of them being that it has a tight budget.
Budget issues
Supervisors unanimously voted to oversee Corpus’s budget on Monday because it used the majority of its $324 million budget for the current 2025-26 fiscal year.
“Due to fiscal constraints, we cannot allow sergeants to work deupty overtime when the need no longer exists,” Corpus said in her letter to the unions on Sept. 8.
The sheriff’s office is now investigating the fight — a fight in the sheriff’s jail — and any findings will be forwarded to the District Attorney’s office to determine if any charges will be filed against any inmates, Spiker said.
Inmate deaths
Six inmates have died in the jail since 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.
The six county jail inmates who died since Corpus became sheriff in January 2023 are:
• 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, after being tasered, 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 can cer, 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, who was convicted in the drag-racing deaths of a San Carlos couple, died on March 15, from a toxic mix of medications, the medical examiner said.
There have been other incidents in Corpus’ jails:
On Dec. 2, a female inmate was allegedly raped by a male inmate while they were being transported between the jail and Redwood City Courthouse, emails obtained by the Post through a California Public Records Act, after the sheriff’s office refused to release
many details about the alleged assault.
The emails, which were from Judges Elizabeth Lee and Stephanie Garratt to Corpus, said the female inmate was allegedly raped twice by the male prisoner behind her while they were shackled together.
The guard’s back was “inexplicably” turned to the inmates while they were in the elevator, allowing for the rape to occur, according to the email.
DA Wagstaffe decided not to file charges against the male inmate because there was not enough evidence to prove to a jury beyond a reasonable doubt that the incident was not consensual.
Corpus is facing removal from the board and the civil grand jury. Supervisors are waiting for the recommendation of the hearing from hearing officer retired Judge James Emerson on whether to remove Corpus on allegations including nepotism, conflicts of interest, retaliation, false arrest and using homophobic and racial slurs.
The civil grand jury has filed four “accusations” against Corpus that will lead to a trial and her possible removal.
Get rid of Corpus ASAP. Sooner or later, her and her Command Staff’s incompetence is going to get a Deputy or a Correctional Officer killed. Once Corpus and her lackey are gone, we need a new Sheriff and Command Staff that actually has experience in custody operations.
THIS is the result when you have a totally incompetent so called Sheriff who puts people in positions that have ZERO experience in custody! THIS is what happens when the moron of a Sheriff pretends staffing is fine and does a dog and pony show to fool the public that staffing is just fine in the jail! She is a flat out liar. Her narcissist behavior and ego are the cause of this! GET HER OUT NOW!!!!!!
So now it is public knowledge that staffing at McGuire Correctional Facility was 22% short of what it should have been on the day the fight broke out, and much of the staffing that was present was based on Deputies and CO’s working overtime. This is a perfect example of the utter incompetence of the Corpus Sheriff’s Office. Ever since Christina took office, the Sheriff’s Office has lacked an experienced Assistany Sheriff in charge of the jails, which has been customary. Instead, she hired her boyfriend, Victor, and wasted time getting him raise after raise. When will this awful circus end?