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Residents urge San Mateo sheriff to allow personal mail, call for independent complaint process after jail deaths
Summary
Multiple residents and advocacy groups urged the Independent Civilian Advisory Commission to press the sheriff’s office to allow personal mail for incarcerated people, create an independent complaint process and address recent in‑custody deaths.
Residents and community advocates used the commission’s public‑comment period to press San Mateo County’s newly seated Independent Civilian Advisory Commission (ICAC) to press the sheriff’s office to restore personal mail for incarcerated people and to create an independent complaints process after several in‑custody deaths.
Those speaking at the Aug. 7 meeting said allowing letters and drawings from loved ones would improve inmates’ mental well‑being and that the county’s current mail policy and vendor contracts are harmful. “That simple act of reading and physically touching a letter could lift up their downtrodden spirits immensely,” said Deacon Lauren McCombs, a member of Faith in Action Bay Area and Coalition for Safer San…
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