SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — The Saving Lives in Custody campaign hopes to get the attention of Sheriff Kelly Martinez after the sixth in-custody death this year.
The most recent death inside a county jail happened Sunday. It's the second in May.
"The North County Equity and Justice Coalition wants answers so that these families can start the process of getting beyond the point of what happened to my loved one," Yusef Miller said.
Roselee Bertolucci was found unresponsive in her jail cell at the Las Colinas facility.
The quest for answers is personal for Sabrina Weggle, who has demonstrated in front of sheriff's headquarters 37 times since she lost her little brother inside a county jail.
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“Seeing on the news and articles come out about another death, it just kinda triggers the pain, and I know that person is going to be fighting for answers for a while. Still, two years in. I still have a lot of questions as to how my brother died inside of custody," Weggle said.
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His brother, Saxon Rodriguez, died after a drug overdose in 2021 that she said was 100 percent preventable.
“I don’t understand how people are dying with medical care and basically a 24/7 watch," she said. "My brother died because he wasn’t checked on time. So again, these deputies aren’t doing their job."
Last year there were a total of 19 in-custody jail deaths.
The group says it has solutions. One is enhancing security checks to ensure nothing is getting into the jails.
“Scan everyone who enters the jail, that includes deputies and staff. They are not above scrutiny,” he said
While Bartolacci's cause of death is unknown, drug overdoses have played a role in past jail deaths.
When we spoke to the sheriff in March, she told us that the jails were increasing measures to reduce the number of in-custody deaths, including better access to naloxone and testing inmates for drugs.
In a statement the San Diego County Sheriff's Department said: "Our sympathies go out to the families of people who have died in custody and we understand their desire to be heard.
The Sheriff is committed to managing jails that are safe for the people who are in custody and for our staff. We are making significant changes to healthcare, programs, and the infrastructure of our jail system."
