Sheriff’s officials Monday identified a 50-year-old man who was found unresponsive inside his San Diego Central Jail cell and pronounced dead about a half-hour later.
A deputy made the discovery while conducting a security check at 7:06 p.m. Saturday at the jail at 1173 Front St., according to the San Diego County Sheriff’s Office.
The deputy requested help from medical staff, activated 911 and began life-saving measures, sheriff’s officials said.
Paramedics from the San Diego Fire-Rescue Department continued resuscitation efforts but the man, identified as Daniel Patrick Murphy, was pronounced dead at 7:33 p.m.
Murphy had been in the jail since Friday and faced drug-related charges including possession of a controlled substance and bringing a controlled substance into a jail facility, officials said. The latter was not related to his latest booking.
Murphy shared a cell with another inmate, officials said.
The San Diego County Medical Examiner’s office will determine the cause and manner of death. The sheriff’s Homicide Unit was investigating the death and the Citizens’ Law Enforcement Review Board has been notified.
San Diego County has been under intense scrutiny for years over its unusually high number of in-custody deaths. In 2022, the California State Auditor found “deficiencies with how the sheriff’s department provides care for and protects incarcerated individuals (that) likely contributed to in- custody deaths.”
That audit examined 185 deaths within the San Diego County jail system from 2006 through 2020, a rate that exceeded all of California’s other large counties during that time period. The county had 19 custody deaths in 2022 alone, and another six in 2023.
The Sheriff’s Office has committed to a $500 million effort to modernize and upgrade its jails, but advocates have questioned whether those efforts are sufficient.