DENVER — A year after a 71-year-old inmate died in Denver's jail, the citizen oversight board still has questions and concerns.
For a couple of minutes during an update in front of the Denver City Council Safety, Housing, Education & Homelessness Committee last week, the chair of Denver's Citizen Oversight Board said the February 2022 death of Leroy Taylor is one of their top concerns right now.
Taylor’s cellmate and family members told 9NEWS he was repeatedly denied medical care in the days leading up to his death on Feb. 9, 2022.
Daria Serna, spokeswoman for the Denver Sheriff Department, said in an emailed statement at the time that he’d been “discovered non-responsive in a housing unit by deputies.”
An autopsy report found Taylor died of heart disease. Three agencies launched investigations. The sheriff's department said last year it would include the findings in their open investigation and inquiries.
"It is worth mentioning to you all that no one has been held accountable and we don’t have a single process change related to that individual’s death in the jail," said Julia Richman, chair of the Citizen Oversight Board.
During a meeting in December with the Citizen Oversight Board, Executive Director of Public Safety Armando Saldate said he had no knowledge of any final investigative reporting concerning the death of Taylor.
He told the board he had not seen Denver Health's internal report on the incident, according to minutes from the December meeting.
"The general board concern about the relationship of Denver Health is the lack of accountability," Richman said. "Confusing handoffs between who has information about what, who is making decisions about what, and then in this case, right, maybe the nurse was let go from Denver Health but there was no coalescing on what is the best process, how do we do this differently in the future, how do we prevent this from happening again."
Richman also raised ongoing concerns about safety at Denver's jail. Last year, the sheriff's department said about 30% of its positions were still open.
"Not only is that an issue for the workforce themselves, but people who are incarcerated and their experience with out-time and civility and basic human rights," Richman said.
In November, Sheriff Elias Diggins said all deputies are required to work a minimum of six hours of overtime every week.
The safety committee members also passed a bill that would increase the compensation of the Citizen Oversight Board members. Instead of getting paid $100 per month, members would be paid $100 per meeting.
The Citizen Oversight Board holds regular meetings on the first and third Fridays of each month.
"We feel if we increase the compensation of the board we may also increase the diversity of the board members," Richman said.
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