Jason Nishimoto
Jason Nishimoto was a welder who refitted plumbing pipes on Navy ships and loved writing short stories and poems, and he had lived with schizophrenia for more than two decades. After a mental health crisis in September 2015 he was taken to the Vista Detention Facility in San Diego County rather than a hospital, where he was held pretrial. He died by hanging with a bedsheet on about his fourth night there, the evening before a scheduled psychiatric appointment. His family says staff did not follow suicide precautions or continue his medications, and his mother has sued the county over his death.
Cause of death, as reported: Died by suicide (neglect alleged). His mother's lawsuit says jail staff ignored their own suicide precautions and that he received none of his medications.
Reported by: his family's lawsuit (family or their lawyers).
Lawsuit: His mother sued San Diego County over his death at the Vista Detention Facility, and no settlement or award amount is reported.