California jail systems' mortality rates
San Diego County's average jail-mortality rate over the years prior to the Union-Tribune's 2019 investigation and that in the years since were the highest among large California counties. Mortality has risen in all of those counties' jails as populations fall in most.
A pair of bar charts showing how jail mortality rates in California's biggest counties compare, split between the years 2009 to 2018 and the period from 2019 through 2023. Mortality rates are across the board higher in the latter period, and San Diego County's is the highest, followed closely by Riverside County.
