A federal court jury has awarded $3.3 million in damages to the father of a schizophrenic man who died in 2022 following a fentanyl overdose in his cell at the Theo Lacy Facility in Santa Ana.
Following a five-day trial that concluded Friday, March 14, jurors determined Orange County is liable for the death of 28-year-old Joshua James Campos, who in addition to schizophrenia had been diagnosed with bipolar and obsessive-compulsive disorders when he was placed in the jail’s general population, where he apparently obtained the lethal dose of fentanyl.
“The death of Joshua Campos was based upon systemic failures, systemic issues and systemic problems throughout the entire Orange County jail system, which time after time after time is allowing for individuals who are presumed innocent until proven guilty to die within their jails,” Christian Contreras, an attorney for Campos’ father, said during a Tuesday news conference.
Campos was “vulnerable, fragile and needed help,” and should not have been placed with other inmates at Theo Lacy, Contreras said.
“We are asking for changes within the jail, so folks like Josh don’t die anymore, and that individuals who are in custody waiting for their case to be resolved are safe and free from harm,” he added.
Orange County officials declined to comment on the verdict. It was unclear whether the county intends to appeal the decision.
Mental illness documented
Campos, a resident of Brea, was booked and processed at the Orange County Jail’s Intake Release Center on March 4, 2022.
There, he was evaluated separately by at least three medical professionals, who documented he had at least 10 previous psychiatric hospitalizations, multiple suicide attempts and had abused narcotics, Contreras said in a federal civil rights lawsuit naming the county and six jail deputies as defendants.
Campos remained under psychological evaluation for two days at the IRC before he was transferred to Theo Lacy, where he was largely unsupervised, according to Contreras.
“Campos required separate safe housing and constant supervision, assistance, and/or suicide watch to prevent harm to himself, yet no such precautions were ever taken at Theo Lacy,” stated the federal lawsuit stated.
Stopped breathing
The suit says video surveillance footage at Theo Lacy at 10:07 p.m. on March 7, 2022, shows Campos unwrapping and then snorting a substance off a metal stool in his cell. He then began swaying while holding his chest for a few minutes before attempting to lie down.
Around 10:20 p.m., a cellmate discovered Campos had stopped breathing and alerted jail deputies by pushing an alert button in the cell, the suit states. After a few minutes went by without a response from deputies, the cellmate repeatedly called out for help, yelling that Campos was not breathing.
About 10 minutes after hitting the alert button, the cellmate desperately began performing CPR on Campos until six deputies arrived at the cell to take over rescue efforts, which were unsuccessful, the suit states.
The Orange County District Attorney’s Office investigated Campos’ death, and found that while deputies owed him a “duty of care,” there is no evidence that duty was breached.
Father: ‘The big mistake’
During the news conference, Jay Campos said that after he was notified of his son’s death on March 7, 2022, he questioned jail staff about where he had been housed.
“They said the general population,” he noted. “He didn’t belong there. You’re not mentally ill one day, then two and three days later, you’re fine. Mental illness doesn’t work like that. That was the big mistake that they made that led to my son’s death.”
Jail personnel who testified during the federal trial repeatedly said they were unfamiliar with Joshua Campos, said Jay Campos, who was appreciative his son’s name was mentioned numerous times during the proceedings.
“I guarantee they know who he is now,” he said. “That was a very important thing to me, that they know who he is.”