Alcohol and drug withdrawal deaths in California jails: when the jail is responsible

If someone you love died while going through withdrawal in a California jail, we are deeply sorry. Many families are told the death was "natural" or "medical" and that nothing could have been done. That is not always true. Alcohol withdrawal and drug withdrawal are known, predictable medical conditions, and jails have written rules for spotting and treating them. A withdrawal death in jail lawsuit asks whether the jail followed those rules and responded when the person got sicker.

This guide covers the medical risks of alcohol, benzodiazepine and opioid withdrawal, why intake screening and monitoring matter, what California is doing about addiction medication in jails, reported California cases, the legal standard, the deadlines, and the records families should ask for. It is general information, not legal or medical advice. For advice about your situation, you can request a free, confidential review.

Why withdrawal in jail can be deadly

Many people arrive at jail after heavy daily drinking or drug use, and they stop suddenly at the booking door. The U.S. Department of Justice's Bureau of Justice Assistance and the National Institute of Corrections said it plainly in their June 2023 Guidelines for Managing Substance Withdrawal in Jails: "Withdrawal from alcohol, sedatives, and opioids can be dangerous and potentially life-threatening."

• Alcohol. The same federal guidelines warn that alcohol withdrawal "left undetected, unmonitored, and untreated can lead to seizures, delirium, and death." According to the National Library of Medicine's MedlinePlus, symptoms usually start within 8 hours of the last drink, can begin days later, and tend to peak at 24 to 72 hours. The severe form, delirium tremens, brings sudden confusion, fever, hallucinations and seizures. MedlinePlus says alcohol withdrawal "may quickly become life-threatening" and that seizures or severe confusion call for emergency care.
• Benzodiazepines and other sedatives (such as Xanax, Valium or Klonopin). The federal guidelines group sedatives with alcohol as withdrawals that can be life-threatening. The National Institute of Mental Health notes that doctors usually taper these medicines slowly to reduce withdrawal symptoms, which is the opposite of what happens when a person is cut off at booking.
• Opioids (fentanyl, heroin, pain pills, methadone). Opioid withdrawal causes vomiting and diarrhea, and the guidelines warn that dehydration can have "serious health consequences, including death." They also warn that managing withdrawal without ongoing medication "leaves the patient at risk for overdose and death," because tolerance drops quickly.

The danger window is the first days after booking. That is why intake screening and close monitoring matter so much.

What jails are supposed to do

California's minimum jail standards, written by the Board of State and Community Corrections in Title 15 of the California Code of Regulations, require a medical and mental health screening of every person at intake (§ 1207). A separate rule on detoxification (§ 1213) requires the jail's responsible physician to adopt written withdrawal policies, including the symptoms that require immediate transfer to a hospital. A jail without licensed medical staff on duty may not keep a person whose withdrawal cannot be readily controlled; it must arrange immediate transfer.

The federal guidelines add practical detail that many jails follow:

• Screen everyone for withdrawal risk "immediately upon arrival."
• Track alcohol withdrawal with a validated scoring tool such as the CIWA-Ar, and opioid withdrawal with a tool such as the COWS.
• For opioid withdrawal, monitor "at least every 4 hours for the first 72 hours."
• Continue verified prescriptions, including medication for opioid use disorder, when a person enters jail.

The records later show whether intake asked about drinking and drug use, whether withdrawal scores were taken on schedule, and whether anyone called a doctor or 911 when symptoms worsened.

Addiction medication (MAT/MOUD) in California jails

Medication for opioid use disorder, such as buprenorphine or methadone, is often called MAT or MOUD. California has moved toward offering it in custody. Under the state's CalAIM justice-involved reentry initiative, Medi-Cal can pay for certain services in the 90 days before release, and the Department of Health Care Services says county jails, state prisons and youth facilities must pass a readiness assessment before offering MAT as a pre-release service. Its October 2025 notice also allows a methadone clinic to coordinate take-home doses for an enrolled patient "for the duration of incarceration," and says refusing counseling "shall not preclude" a patient from receiving MAT. In state prisons, the prison health system says patients access its addiction treatment program at more than twice the community rate, according to California Correctional Health Care Services.

Programs differ from county to county. If your loved one was on methadone or buprenorphine before arrest and the jail stopped it, that decision and the reasons for it are important records.

What has gone wrong in California cases

Court monitors and lawsuits have described the same failures in several counties:

• Sacramento County. In the Mays class action, a court-appointed monitor found in a July 2025 report that "Nursing withdrawal monitoring is not timely and is often not done at all."
• Contra Costa County. In a 2020 class action settlement, the county agreed to spend about $250 million over five years to improve jail care, and medical experts in that case called the jails' drug and alcohol withdrawal procedures "extremely dangerous," the San Francisco Chronicle reported. The county denied the allegations.

Reported results in California withdrawal-death cases

These are cases where the family sued and the result was publicly reported. They were handled by other law firms, not LaCour Trial Lawyers.

• Martin Harrison, Santa Rita Jail, Alameda County (died 2010). He was booked on a DUI charge, told a nurse he drank every day, was judged not at risk of withdrawal, and died after going into withdrawal and a confrontation with deputies. His four adult children settled with Alameda County and its medical contractor, Corizon, for $8.3 million in 2015, with reforms requiring registered nurses to do initial medical evaluations and withdrawal training for officers. Deputies said he attacked them.
• Anthony Lumley, San Joaquin County (died 1999). He died during alcohol withdrawal (delirium tremens) after being held at the San Joaquin County jail and transferred to the Lodi city jail. His two children settled for $900,000 in 2003, paid by the county and the city.
• Anthony Galley, Sacramento County Main Jail (died 2022). His children filed a federal lawsuit alleging he received no care for severe alcohol withdrawal until after a seizure, and that he died two days after his arrest. The court monitor's review stated, "The patient was not evaluated by a medical provider in accordance with policy," CapRadio reported. We did not find a reported outcome as of October 2026.
• Callen Lines, Las Colinas jail, San Diego County. Her husband, children, sister and father filed a federal wrongful death lawsuit in January 2026, alleging the jail failed to treat her withdrawal, never continuously monitored her, and dismissed her intercom calls for help, 10News reported. The case was pending as of October 2026.

Every case is different. Past results, including those listed here, do not predict the outcome of any other case.

The legal standard and who can be held responsible

A jail must respond to a serious medical need. For people held before trial, the claim arises under the Fourteenth Amendment; for sentenced prisoners, under the Eighth Amendment, which requires showing deliberate indifference. Our guide to jail medical neglect and deliberate indifference explains these standards in plain terms. Families may also bring state-law claims such as wrongful death and negligence, and some lawsuits add disability-discrimination claims.

Possible defendants include the county and sheriff (including for policies, customs or a failure to train, often called a Monell claim), individual nurses, doctors and deputies, and a private medical company if the county contracts one out. See our guide to jail health care contractors like Wellpath, NaphCare and CFMG.

Deadlines for a withdrawal death claim

For state-law claims against a county, city or the State, California requires a written government claim within six months of the death (Government Code § 911.2). If the claim is rejected in writing, you generally have six months from that notice to sue. Late-claim relief is narrow and must be sought within one year. Families lose state claims by waiting. Our guide to the six-month government claim deadline explains where and how to file.

Federal civil-rights claims under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 need no government claim and generally must be filed within two years. Claims against a private medical contractor are not subject to the six-month rule but have their own deadlines, generally two years for wrongful death, and some medical-negligence rules differ. Because the county is almost always a defendant too, plan around the six-month clock.

After a death, the estate can bring a survival claim; federal courts in California have allowed the estate to recover for the person's own suffering in some cases. A spouse, children and, in some circumstances, parents or others who depended on the person can bring a wrongful death claim.

What families should request after a withdrawal death

1. The coroner's or medical examiner's report and toxicology. Our guide to autopsy reports, records and jail video explains how.
2. The sheriff's public death posting, which California law requires within 10 days of an in-custody death.
3. Through a lawyer: the intake screening form, withdrawal scoring sheets (CIWA or COWS), nursing notes, medication records, any record that a home prescription such as methadone was stopped, safety-check logs, intercom and call-button logs, and housing-unit video. We send preservation letters right away so this evidence is not lost.
4. Write down what you told the jail and when, especially any call warning that your loved one drank heavily or used drugs daily.
5. Do not sign anything from the county, a contractor or an insurer before speaking with a lawyer.

Withdrawal deaths often overlap with overdoses. Our guide to fentanyl and overdose deaths in jail covers those cases, and our guides to Sacramento County jail deaths and Santa Rita Jail deaths cover two of the counties discussed here.

How LaCour Trial Lawyers handles these cases

LaCour Trial Lawyers is a Pasadena-based trial firm that handles police misconduct and wrongful death in custody cases throughout California. A partner leads each case, we have Spanish-speaking lawyers and staff, and there is no fee unless there is a recovery.

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.