Mental health advocates calls for inquiry into 5 jail deaths

BY DAVE PRICE
Daily Post Editor

Five inmates in the San Mateo County Jail have died since Sheriff Christina Corpus took over in January 2023, and now a mental health advocacy organization is calling for an independent review of these deaths.

Of the five inmates who died, two died in suicides, two were drug-related and one person was killed by cancer.

Kate Phillips, a board member of the San Mateo County chapter of the National Alliance of Mental Illness or NMAI, called for the review on July 16 during the inaugural meeting of the San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office Civilian Advisory Commission.

Because the jail deaths weren’t on the commission’s agenda, nobody responded to Phillips’ comments.

Phillips said the review should look at how the sheriff could prevent similar deaths in the future.

According to NAMI, the five who died were:

• 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.

She also said that jails are not the proper setting for treating mental crises, and she wanted diversion problems to help arrestees with their problems.

“While the sheriff has strengthened mental health and substance abuse services within the jail, these units, staffed with some medical personnel, still function within the correctional environment,” NAMI San Mateo County President Chris Rasmussen said in a letter to the citizen’s commission. “Correctional officers and deputies are not trained to handle addiction and mental health crises, despite the long-standing use of jails and prisons as de facto mental health institutions. This practice is ineffective, inhumane, and financially wasteful.”