The jail has seen numerous overdose deaths, including eight over a two-week period in early February, the Mercury News reported. A majority of the deaths have been either drug-related or the result of exacerbated, and poorly treated, mental health issues, advocates said at a protest in April. It marked the fifth reported death at the jail this year.Īdvocacy groups like Critical Resistance, Restore Oakland and the Care First Community Coalition have rallied outside the jail to protest the number of in-custody deaths. Last week, a prisoner whose name has not been released, died after he was found frantically drinking water and vomiting inside his cell. Svarda’s situation follows a string of controversies at Santa Rita Jail. Svarda told KTVU that he and other prisoners are urging jail officials to address a bevy of alleged issues: retaliation from staff, delayed or no medical care, moldy bathrooms, poor working conditions and missing mail. As for Svarda’s claims that he swallowed a staple, Modeste said, “I don’t believe anything he says.” I don’t believe he was ever on a hunger strike,” she said. “I have a very difficult time believing that somebody who starved themselves for two weeks only lost two pounds. Modeste said Svarda was found eating food on Monday, the day he ended the strike. She claimed that medical personnel monitored Svarda regularly and recorded a 2-pound weight loss from before and after the strike. Tya Modeste cast doubt on Svarda’s story in an interview. Boisseau declined to comment on the hunger strike. His attorney George Boisseau said Svarda was sentenced this week to 37 months, including time served. Svarda was booked into the Dublin, California facility in January for violating the terms of his supervised release after he was initially incarcerated on a federal robbery charge, jail records show. “What are the chances that a staple would be in his food?” “He feels like that was done in retaliation because he’s always asking for badge numbers and filing grievances,” Sallak said. He managed to pull it out, but he told her he did not receive adequate medical attention after the incident. “He felt like he was choking,” she added. Svarda began the strike late last month after swallowing a staple in his breakfast that became lodged in his throat, Svarda’s friend Hana Sallak, who has been in daily contact with Svarda, said he told her. I still haven’t eaten their food, because it’s traumatizing that trash is in the food. But I’m still holding them accountable, I’m still putting in grievances. “I’m afraid if I go too far, they’ll just let me die. “My health was declining way too fast,” Svarda said, noting that he’s now relying on food purchased from the commissary rather than eating meals provided by the jail.
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