SAN JOSE, Calif. (KRON) – Santa Clara County Sheriff Laurie Smith has rejected calls from San Jose’s mayor and others to resign over her management of the county’s jail system.
The sheriff responded Tuesday with a news conference of her own.
A combative Sheriff Laurie Smith said she is not about to resign and defended her record on managing the county’s jail system.
The Board of Supervisors was asked to consider launching an investigation into the sheriff’s office over allegations of abuse that led to inmate deaths and injuries
Calling on the state Attorney General to investigate is supervisor Joe Simitian.
Sheriff Smith blamed failures related to implementing change on a lack of staffing at the jails. An unlikely ally of the sheriff in this is Attorney Paula Canny who represents a mentally ill inmate seriously injured while in jail.
Sheriff Smith called on the FBI to get involved and insisted her office has aggressively implemented reforms and improved the system for inmates to file grievances.
Critics, however, say the tens of millions of dollars spent on the jails have failed to put things right.