San Diego

The County Board of Supervisors on Friday approved funding to create a jail medical-services quality plan and an inmate-death review committee.

Until a permanent committee is established in a few months, an interim committee has been organized to allow independent medical experts to review recent inmate deaths, according to county officials.

The supervisors also charged the County Department of Health Services to review certain aspects of jail health care, including ambulance treatment of in-custody patients and treatment given to individuals admitted to licensed, acute-care facilities. The department will also be responsible for reviewing treatment procedures associated with in-custody patient deaths, according to county officials.

Health services officials are currently taking steps--including acquiring necessary medical records and meeting with sheriff’s jail management--toward establishing the permanent inmate-death review committee.