A female inmate at Maple Street Jail in Redwood City died today (Sept. 29) after suffering from what the sheriff’s office says was a “medical emergency.”
Markeisha Monique Renee Blount, 31, of Stockton, is the seventh person to die in jail since Sheriff Christina Corpus took office in January 2023. This death comes days after a 30-person brawl broke out at the Maguire Jail in downtown Redwood City on Friday, which left six inmates and four deputies injured.
The woman suffered what the sheriff’s office describe as a “medical emergency” on Monday morning in her housing pod, according to a statement from sheriff’s spokeswoman Gretchen Spiker. A safety check had just been completed at the woman’s pod, Spiker said.
Jail employees began trying to help the woman until jail medical staff arrived. Fire and paramedics were also called to the jail, according to Spiker.
The coroner’s office is in charge of determining the cause of death.
The six other 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.
Unions representing sheriff’s deputies and sergeants said the brawl on Friday and other issues in the jail are a direct result of a dangerous staffing shortage.
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’ 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.
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 fill the immediate need.
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 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.
What is Judge Emerson waiting for?
Wow… another in-custody death today! Nice work Chrissy. Really taking care of business. Wouldn’t want any “dirty looks” headed your way to hurt your feelings and make you sad. And here we await Judge Emerson’s findings from the hearing that ended over one month ago!! Sure, the BOS and County leadership agreed to allow him 45 days to submit his findings, but am I the only one who thinks enough “reasonable” time has passed and we should have his response in-hand by now? The whole Measure A process is ludicrous, far too protracted, and is clearly being administered by a bunch of elected cowards and bureaucratic stooges, who are afraid of their own shadows. The voters entrusted our elected officials to administer this process fairly and effectively, but in reality they are dragging their collective asses and another person has died under Corpus’ watch. Shameful!
“Just Another Day”: Your impatience is understandable, but FWIW the 45-day mark would be Monday, Oct. 13th.
I don’t think the Measure A process is too protracted, because I’ve studied why it was designed that way — by subject-matter expert Alfonso Estrada of HansonBridgett LLP: Estrada made sure to preserve fundamental fairness and deliberately borrow from public employee administrative law (thus, for example, the “pre-removal conference” with Chief Keene, closely resembling a Skelly hearing), to make sure that a official thus removed would have no plausible grounds for appeal.
The basic concept of a charter county having voters amend the charter to permit its Board of Supervisors, on supermajority vote, to remove an elected official for serious cause was court-proven by San Bernardino County and Los Angeles County having gone that far before us, but neither needed to flesh out fine details to the end, because neither ended up needing to use that power as we do. Thus the deliberate and justified caution to do this in a legally impeccable way.
Tomorrow (Wednesday) will be day 33. Maybe Emerson will smile on us, that day.
A huge fight in the jail and another death in custody. Take a wild guess who didn’t show up to either critical incident, Sheriff Christy and the sober undersheriff. Further examples of her stellar leadership.