After a death in the Contra Costa County jail in Martinez or Richmond

If your son, daughter, husband, wife, parent or sibling died in a Contra Costa County jail, we are very sorry. A death in custody is a shock, and the first answers often come from the same office that ran the jail. You may still be waiting to learn what happened, or why.

This guide is for families looking for a Contra Costa County jail death lawyer, or simply trying to understand a Martinez Detention Facility death. It covers what public records show about the county's three jails, the problems a federal lawsuit has focused on, who can be held responsible, the deadlines that protect your rights, and what to do in the next few weeks. The most important deadline is short: a claim against Contra Costa County is generally due within six months of the death.

What the records show about deaths in Contra Costa County jails

Facilities	Martinez Detention Facility (maximum security, intake for all county arrests); West County Detention Facility (medium security, Richmond); Marsh Creek Detention Facility (minimum security, near Clayton)
Operated by	Contra Costa County Office of the Sheriff; medical and mental health care by Detention Health, a division of Contra Costa Health
Population	2025 average daily population: Martinez 430 (capacity 695), West County 490 (capacity 1,096), Marsh Creek 37 (capacity 188) (Civil Grand Jury, May 2026)
Deaths in custody	2023: 1 · 2024: 1 · 2025: 0 (Sheriff's oversight reports) · 2026: at least 3 at Martinez as of June (news reports)
Oversight	Federal consent decree in Young v. County of Contra Costa (approved 2021); quarterly Sheriff's reports to the Board of Supervisors

Contra Costa County holds far fewer people than its jails were built for. In 2025, the three jails together ran at less than half of their rated capacity, according to the county Civil Grand Jury's May 2026 report on the cost of adult detention. The Martinez Detention Facility is the busiest. Every person arrested in the county is booked there, and it recorded 15,903 bookings in 2025, according to the Sheriff's 2025 oversight report as summarized by Contra Costa News.

The Sheriff's own year-end reports to the Board of Supervisors list one in-custody death in 2023, one in 2024 and none in 2025, according to Contra Costa News coverage of the October 2024 and February 2026 reports. In August 2024, the Sheriff announced that a man died at the West County Detention Facility in Richmond, a few days after his arrest.

2026 has been different. Local news reported at least three deaths at the Martinez Detention Facility in the first half of the year: a 61-year-old man on January 8 and a 62-year-old unhoused man on January 18, KTVU reported, and a 40-year-old man found unresponsive in the intake area the day after a drug arrest in late June, according to Hoodline. The man who died January 18 had been arrested three days earlier for trespassing and a probation violation, CBS San Francisco reported. These counts may change as of October 2026, and different agencies sometimes count deaths differently. California law also requires every death in custody to be reported to the state Department of Justice.

Earlier years were worse. In 2018 there were six deaths in the county's jails, two from overdoses, two suicides and two from heart failure, and Contra Costa had the most deaths per person held of any large California jail system that year, the East Bay Express reported using Sheriff's and state data. In March 2019, KTVU counted 15 in-custody deaths at the Martinez jail since 2014.

What usually goes wrong in the Martinez and Richmond jails

Many jail deaths happen in the first hours or days after arrest, when a person may be withdrawing from drugs or alcohol, in a mental health crisis, or hiding a medical problem. Two of the 2026 deaths described above happened within days of booking, and one happened in the intake area itself. A 2022 suicide at the Martinez jail happened the day after the man was arrested on a warrant, KTVU reported.

Medical and mental health care in the jails was the subject of a federal class action. In Young v. County of Contra Costa, filed in 2020, people held in the jails alleged that medical and mental health care fell below constitutional minimums and that people with disabilities were shut out of programs, according to the Prison Law Office, which brought the case. Medical experts in the case described the jails' procedures for drug and alcohol withdrawal as "extremely dangerous," and the suicide rate was described as too high, the San Francisco Chronicle reported. The county denied the allegations but settled in October 2020. It agreed to spend about $250 million over five years on staff, services and facility improvements, with outside experts inspecting the jails every six months. The court approved the consent decree in February 2021.

When a death follows a booking, the questions are usually the same: Did the intake nurse ask the right questions? Was withdrawal or suicide risk flagged? Were safety checks done on time, and does the video match the log? Did staff call for help quickly? The answers are in records the county controls, which is why early preservation matters.

Who investigates a Martinez Detention Facility death

After a death in custody, the Sheriff's Office and the District Attorney's Office both investigate under the county's fatal-incident protocol, according to the Sheriff's statements in recent news coverage. The coroner function also sits inside the Sheriff's Office. Sheriff David Livingston holds the title Sheriff-Coroner, and a deputy coroner in the Sheriff's Coroner's Division determines the legal manner of death. That means the office that ran the jail also decides how the death is officially classified. Some families choose an independent review of the autopsy for that reason.

In 2022, the Board of Supervisors voted against creating an independent board to oversee the Sheriff's Office and chose quarterly reports from the Sheriff instead, including data on in-custody deaths, Danville San Ramon reported.

Who can be held responsible for a death in a Contra Costa jail

In many California counties, jail health care is run by a private company. In Contra Costa, it is run by the county itself. Contra Costa Health's Detention Health division provides medical and mental health care at the Martinez, West County and Marsh Creek jails. That means the nurses, doctors and mental health staff are generally county employees, and Contra Costa County is the main entity responsible for both custody and care.

A case after a jail death may include:

• Contra Costa County, for the actions of its deputies and health staff, and for policies, customs or staffing choices that caused harm. A federal civil-rights claim against a county must show that its own policy or custom caused the violation.
• Individual deputies, nurses or doctors who ignored a serious medical need or a known suicide risk. For people held before trial, these claims arise under the Fourteenth Amendment; for sentenced people, under the Eighth Amendment.
• Outside companies, such as a hospital or contractor, if records show their care played a role.

Our guide on whether you can sue if someone dies in jail in California covers these rules in more depth.

Recent settlements and verdicts

As of October 2026, we could not verify any publicly reported family settlement or verdict in a Contra Costa County jail death, so we do not list one here. Many cases settle quietly or are still pending. Every case is different. Past results, including those reported in other counties, do not predict the outcome of any other case. For reported results elsewhere in the state, see our list of California jail death settlements and verdicts and our guide to how much a jail death lawsuit is worth.

Hurt in custody, not killed?

Serious injuries in the Martinez, West County and Marsh Creek jails can also support a claim, whether from force, a fall during withdrawal, or medicine that was stopped at booking. See our guides on suing after being beaten by deputies and being denied medication in jail.

When Detention Health staff knew about a serious medical need and did not respond, the claim usually turns on deliberate indifference to medical needs. The six-month claim deadline applies to injuries too. Ask for a free, confidential review.

How long do you have to file a claim against Contra Costa County?

For state-law claims such as wrongful death and negligence, California's Government Claims Act requires a written claim to the county within six months of the death (Government Code § 911.2). If the county rejects it in writing, you generally have six months from that notice to file suit. A late-claim request is possible only within one year and on narrow grounds. Families lose these claims by waiting.

The county's claim form is sent to the Clerk of the Board of Supervisors, 1025 Escobar Street, 1st Floor, Martinez, CA 94553. Keep a copy and proof of the date it was delivered.

Federal civil-rights claims under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 do not need a government claim first and generally must be filed within two years. In these cases, federal courts in California have allowed the estate to recover for the person's own suffering in some cases. Claims can be brought by the estate and, for wrongful death, by close family such as a spouse and children, and in some circumstances parents or others who depended on the person. Our guide to the six-month government claim deadline explains the rules in more detail.

What to do in the first weeks

Our guide on what to do when a loved one dies in jail has a fuller checklist. The key steps:

1. Request the coroner's report and death certificate from the Sheriff's Coroner's Division, and ask when the autopsy will be final. Our guide to getting autopsy reports, jail records and video walks through each request.
2. Do not sign releases, statements or settlement papers from the county or anyone working for it before talking with a lawyer.
3. Write down names, dates and times: the arrest, booking, court dates, any calls from the jail, and who told you about the death.
4. Keep every letter, email and voicemail, including the last calls or messages from your loved one.
5. Save social media posts, texts and phone records. Do not delete anything.
6. Note any known medical conditions, medications or mental health history that the jail should have known about.
7. Speak with a lawyer well before the six-month mark. We send preservation letters for housing-unit and intake video, safety-check logs, medical records and radio traffic so they are not lost.

How LaCour Trial Lawyers handles these cases

LaCour Trial Lawyers is a trial firm, and jail death cases are led by a partner, Jonathan P. LaCour, through our police misconduct and wrongful death in custody practice. We do not have an office in the Bay Area; our closest office is in Fresno. We take cases throughout California and travel to meet families in Contra Costa County. Our team includes Spanish-speaking lawyers and staff, and there is no fee unless there is a recovery.

For nearby counties, see our guides to deaths at Santa Rita Jail in Alameda County and deaths in the Santa Clara County jails, or our overview of deaths in California jails and prisons. When you are ready, ask for a free, confidential review.

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.