Ivan Ortiz
Ivan Ortiz was 26, and his mother, Maria Palacios, described him as her favorite person, someone who could always make her laugh. He died on March 18, 2019, in a single-person observation cell at a San Diego County jail, where he had been moved after an earlier suicide attempt that day, and he was taken to UC San Diego Medical Center on life support. The medical examiner's office listed the manner as suicide and the cause as a brain injury from lack of oxygen, and surveillance video reported by the San Diego Union-Tribune showed nearly an hour passing before deputies checked on him. His family's lawsuit said deputies did not follow policy on checks, and the county agreed in May 2021 to pay $1 million to settle it. A county review board found that staff had failed to keep him safe.
Cause of death, as reported: Died by suicide (neglect alleged). The autopsy report and the Medical Examiner's Office attribute his death to suffocation with a plastic bag; his family's lawsuit says deputies did not follow policy on checks, and the county review board found staff failed to keep him safe.
Reported by: autopsy report; Medical Examiner's Office (medical examiner or coroner); his family's lawsuit (family or their lawyers); the county review board.
Lawsuit: His family sued San Diego County over his death in a county jail, and the county agreed in May 2021 to pay $1 million to settle the case.
News reports (3)
- Rate of jail inmate deaths in San Diego County far exceeds other large California counties - San Diego Union-Tribune
- San Diego County pays $1M to family in inmate death, pushing year’s payouts past $14M - San Diego Union-Tribune
- San Diego County jails to adopt body-worn cameras after scathing audit over inmate deaths