Repeatedly, oversight officials have questioned the quality and frequency of required safety checks and raised concerns in quarterly reports about jailers who delay taking action when confronted with medical emergencies. Meanwhile, state authorities with the Board of State and Community Corrections cited the jails for noncompliance so many times that this year they asked the sheriff to answer questions in person about why staff fail to check on inmates at least hourly.

In a statement to The Times this week, the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department said all deaths are "tragic" but did not offer comment on individual cases.

"The Department takes every in-custody death seriously and strives to make every effort possible to prevent similar deaths in the future," the statement said.

Similarly, the county agency that oversees jail healthcare said in a statement that it cannot comment on individual cases due to medical privacy laws.

"The Los Angeles County Department of Health Services is proud to provide high-quality, patient-centered care to all L.A. County residents, including inmates who receive care through Correctional Health Services," the statement said, adding that the Sheriff's Department is "ultimately responsible for escorting incarcerated persons in custody to the on-site medical clinic for care and treatment."

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When Tawana found out her father was in jail, at first she didn't believe it, she told The Times. Though he'd done some prison time in his younger years, the man she knew was a kind grandfather, not a troublemaker. He loved taking his grandchildren to the park and spoiling them with doughnuts.

Yet in September 2020, Jubal was arrested and charged with murder after prosecutors said he shot a man to death outside his South Los Angeles apartment. Jubal said he didn't do it. And according to his attorneys, he had simply shooed away a would-be thief prowling around his broken-down car, then gone back inside. There was no camera footage of the killing, and no eyewitnesses.

But it was a serious accusation, and Jubal had prior convictions. So the court set bail at $4 million, and he had to stay in jail amid the worsening pandemic. Court records show he had thyroid problems, diabetes, kidney failure, carpal tunnel syndrome and high cholesterol. He required dialysis three times a week, and he needed a wheelchair to get around. His daughter suspected he was in such poor health he wasn't physically able to kill anyone.

"Clearly they got the wrong dude," she remembered thinking, assuming that someone would soon figure out the mistake and let her father out.

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