When a loved one dies or is harmed at Century Regional Detention Facility in Lynwood

We are deeply sorry if you are reading this because someone you love died or was hurt at Century Regional Detention Facility, the Los Angeles County women's jail in Lynwood. Families who come to us after a Lynwood women's jail death usually have the same questions: what happened, why no one called, and whether anything can be done. A Century Regional Detention Facility lawsuit is sometimes the only way to get full answers, and it is also one of the ways families hold the county accountable.

This guide explains what public records say about deaths and harm at the jail, the problems state officials and inspectors have reported, who can be held responsible, and the deadlines that apply. It is written for families, in plain language. It is general information, not legal advice for your situation. For that, you can ask for a free, confidential review.

What the records show about deaths at Century Regional Detention Facility

Facility	Century Regional Detention Facility (CRDF), the county's only jail for women
Operated by	Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department (LASD), Custody Division. Medical and mental health care is run by a separate county department, Correctional Health Services.
Location	11705 S. Alameda St., Lynwood, CA 90262
Population	Rated capacity 1,708; average daily population 1,450 in October to December 2025 (LASD quarterly population report, March 2026)
Deaths in custody	2023: 1 · 2024: 2 · 2025: 4 · 2026: 1 through Sept. 21 (LASD in-custody death list, deaths counted where they occurred)
Oversight	Sybil Brand Commission inspections, Office of Inspector General, Civilian Oversight Commission, a 2015 federal mental health settlement, and the Attorney General's 2025 lawsuit

The Sheriff's Department posts each in-custody death on its transparency page, with the date, facility, manner and cause, but not the person's name. Those lists show one death at CRDF in 2023, two in 2024 and four in 2025. The one death listed so far in 2026 was ruled accidental and attributed to the effects of two prescription psychiatric medications, according to the 2026 list, which, when we checked it on Oct. 11, 2026, ran through September 21 and listed 31 deaths across all county jails this year.

These numbers are low compared with the men's jails, but they are undercounts. When a woman becomes seriously ill at CRDF and dies after being moved to a hospital, the Sheriff's list records the hospital as the place of death and does not say which jail she came from. About half of the women held at CRDF have not been convicted of anything, according to LA Public Press. Across all county jails, the Vera Institute counted 154 deaths from the start of 2023 through September 2026.

What state officials and inspectors say goes wrong at the Lynwood jail

Care for pregnant women

In September 2025, Attorney General Rob Bonta sued Los Angeles County, the Sheriff's Department and Correctional Health Services over conditions in the county jails. The complaint alleges that pregnant women at CRDF were shackled during transport, did not get enough water or a proper prenatal diet, and waited more than a month for pregnancy tests. It alleges that one woman's baby died after a delayed medical response and that another woman reported bleeding for 14 days. The county has called the lawsuit's claims outdated, and we found no reported resolution of the case as of October 2026. These are allegations, not court findings.

Overdoses and medical neglect

The same complaint says at least seven people overdosed at CRDF in 2024. Across the county jail system, the Attorney General alleges that about one in five deaths from 2018 to 2022 was an overdose and that at least 11 deaths from 2018 to 2024 involved late, missed or inadequate safety checks. On March 3, 2026, after 10 jail deaths in the first two months of the year, the Board of Supervisors approved a plan requiring drug screening for everyone entering the jails, randomized safety checks, more cameras, easier access to naloxone, the overdose-reversal drug, and faster handling of medical requests, LAist reported. Our guide to fentanyl and overdose deaths in custody explains when an overdose is the jail's legal responsibility.

Water, sanitation and living conditions

The Sybil Brand Commission, a county body that makes unannounced jail inspections, and LA Public Press reported in 2026 that women at CRDF faced brown or foul tap water, insects coming out of drains, standing water in one housing area for nine months, and broken toilets at every inspection since 2022. Bottled water was sold at $2 and limited to five a week. The Board of Supervisors ordered bottled water for the jail in February 2026, but inspectors found it was not consistently handed out.

Mental health care

The county has been under a federal mental health and suicide-prevention settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice since 2015. The county's compliance office reports that the provision on high- and moderate-observation mental health housing has reached sustained compliance at CRDF. Compliance on paper does not mean every woman received the care she needed, and individual failures can still support a claim.

Sexual abuse at Century Regional: the 2025 federal lawsuit

In October 2025, a group of 38 women filed a federal lawsuit about their treatment at CRDF. According to reporting by WitnessLA and KFI AM 640, the women allege that male deputies watched them shower, touched them sexually and pressured them for sex in exchange for basic necessities, and that women who spoke up faced retaliation. The case is pending, and the claims have not been proven in court. This was not the first time: in February 2018, a CRDF deputy was criminally charged with sexually assaulting six women at the jail in 2017, WitnessLA reported.

If you or a family member was abused at CRDF, you may have sexual abuse claims against the county and the people involved. These cases can be handled privately and with care, and the same claim deadlines discussed below may apply.

Who can be held responsible for a death or injury at CRDF

• Los Angeles County and the Sheriff's Department. The county runs the jail and is responsible for staffing, safety checks, supervision and conditions.
• Correctional Health Services. This county department provides medical and mental health care in the jails. It is a named defendant in the Attorney General's lawsuit.
• Individual deputies, nurses and doctors. Under federal civil-rights law, people who ignored an obvious medical need, failed to protect someone, or abused their power can be sued personally.
• The county's policies and customs. When harm comes from a widespread practice, like routinely skipped safety checks or poor training, the county itself can be liable under federal law (often called a Monell claim).

Recent settlements and verdicts

Destiny Ortega, 32, died at CRDF on December 29, 2021. Her estate and her brother sued the county, alleging she was killed by another person held at the jail, as KFI AM 640 reported. That is the only reported Century Regional Detention Facility lawsuit result we could confirm from 2023 to 2026. The table adds results from elsewhere in the same county jail system, where the same county departments run custody and health care. All were obtained by other law firms, not by LaCour Trial Lawyers.

"Recommended" means the county Claims Board recommended the amount; we did not confirm the Board of Supervisors' final vote. For statewide results, see our California jail death settlements and verdicts, and for what affects value, how much a jail death lawsuit is worth. Every case is different. Past results, including those listed here, do not predict the outcome of any other case.

Hurt in custody, not killed?

Many women leave CRDF alive but harmed: hurt by a deputy or another person in custody, denied prescribed psychiatric or other medication, or left without care for a serious condition, including during pregnancy. The Attorney General's complaint describes one woman who reported bleeding for 14 days. A woman harmed at the jail can bring her own claim, and the six-month deadline to present it to the county still applies.

Our guides explain claims after a beating by deputies, claims for denied medication in jail, jail medical neglect and deliberate indifference and neglect of pregnant women in jail. To talk about your situation, ask for a free, confidential review.

How long do you have to file a claim against Los Angeles County?

For state-law claims such as wrongful death, negligence and the Bane Act, California requires a written government claim to the county within six months of the death or injury (Government Code § 911.2). In Los Angeles County, the claim goes to the Board of Supervisors' Executive Office at 500 W. Temple Street, Room 383, by mail or in person, as the county's claims page explains. If the county rejects the claim in writing, you generally have six months from that notice to file suit. Asking for permission to file late is possible only within one year and on narrow grounds, so families lose state claims by waiting.

Put every problem in the claim. In one pending family case, the county argued that "each theory must be included in a government claim," Courthouse News reported. A careful claim names medical care, mental health care, safety checks, conditions and any abuse.

Federal civil-rights claims under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 do not require a government claim and generally must be filed within two years. About half the women at CRDF have not been convicted. For women held before trial, medical-care claims arise under the Fourteenth Amendment; women serving a sentence bring them under the Eighth Amendment.

After a death, the woman's estate can bring a survival claim for the losses she had before she died. Federal courts in California have allowed the estate to recover for the person's own suffering in some cases. Close family members, such as a spouse and children, and in some circumstances parents or others who depended on her, can bring a wrongful death claim.

What to do in the first weeks

For a fuller checklist, see what to do when a loved one dies in jail. At CRDF:

1. Request the autopsy report from the LA County Department of Medical Examiner at 1104 N. Mission Rd., Los Angeles. Its records line is (323) 343-0695. Ask us whether an independent autopsy makes sense.
2. Do not sign anything from the county, the Sheriff's Department or any insurer before you talk with a lawyer.
3. Write down names, dates and times: calls from the jail, what other women told you, and when you last spoke with her. The CRDF inmate information line is (213) 473-6100.
4. Keep letters, voicemails, texts, commissary records and phone call recordings. Save her social media and your phone.
5. Call a lawyer well before the six-month mark. We send preservation letters right away for housing-unit video, cell-check logs, medical records and medication records, so they are not lost or recorded over.

How LaCour Trial Lawyers handles these cases

LaCour Trial Lawyers is a trial firm based in Pasadena that takes police misconduct and wrongful death in custody cases across California. A partner leads every case, and we have Spanish-speaking lawyers and staff. We work on contingency, so there is no fee unless there is a recovery. You can also read our guide to deaths at Men's Central Jail and our overview of deaths in California jails and prisons.

Frequently asked questions

This guide is general information about California and federal law and about public records as of its date. It is not legal advice, and reading it or contacting us does not create an attorney–client relationship. Allegations in lawsuits are claims, not findings. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. Attorney advertising.