Three Riverside County social justice groups have launched an initiative campaign to place a measure on the 2026 ballot to create a sheriff’s civilian oversight committee and office of inspector general.
During a news conference Tuesday, Nov. 11, the organizations — Riverside All of Us Or None, Starting Over Strong Inc. and the Riverside Sheriff Accountability Coalition — announced they have filed a notice of intent with the Registrar of Voters Office to circulate a petition.
“This effort is a coalition of organizations and individuals who are united by the simple belief that public safety must be accountable to the public it serves,” General Parker, a member of Riverside All of Us Or None, said at the gathering of about 50 people outside the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department. Family members of some who have died in sheriff’s custody were among the attendees.
Parker said 29,000 petition signatures are required to get the proposal on the ballot, but the groups are hoping to collect more than 35,000 by April 3.
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Lisa Matus, from Beaumont, speaks outside the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department headquarters in downtown Riverside about the 2022 in custody death of her son Richard Matus Jr. while in jail in Murrieta on Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2025. Three social justice groups – Riverside All of Us or None, Starting Over Strong, and the Riverside Sheriff Accountability Coalition held a news conference announcing their push for a 2026 ballot initiative for a sheriff’s oversight committee. (Photo by Will Lester, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG)
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Lisa Matus, from Beaumont, speaks outside the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department headquarters in downtown Riverside about the 2022 in custody death of her son Richard Matus Jr. while in jail in Murrieta on Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2025. Three social justice groups – Riverside All of Us or None, Starting Over Strong, and the Riverside Sheriff Accountability Coalition held a news conference announcing their push for a 2026 ballot initiative for a sheriff’s oversight committee. (Photo by Will Lester, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG)
Pointing to a 133% increase in in-custody deaths from 2011 to 2023 — a period during which 250 people died — the groups maintain that civilian oversight and accountability of the Sheriff’s Department is needed. Additionally, they noted that from 2014 through 2024, the county paid out $100 million to settle lawsuits against the Sheriff’s Department.
They gleaned their information from Inland Empire Lives Lost, a report published last year by Care First California, a coalition of social justice and civil rights groups advocating for carceral reforms.
Inmates deaths in Riverside County jails hit a 15-year high in 2022, when 18 were reported. Sheriff Chad Bianco attributed the spike to a national trend when the jails were flooded with fentanyl and inmates with serious mental health issues. However, a recent report showed that the number of people who died in Riverside County sheriff’s custody dropped nearly 58% from 2021 through 2024.
No More Deaths in Custody Workgroup — a project of the Justice2Jobs Coalition, which published a separate report called Riverside Lives Lost — categorized in-custody deaths as those occurring during arrest, while a detainee was on the way to jail or in jail.
The effort to place the measure on the ballot comes 3 1/2 months after a similar proposal failed to gain traction with the Riverside County Board of Supervisors.
On July 29, Supervisor Jose Medina offered a motion to appoint an ad hoc committee to consider establishing a civilian sheriff’s oversight committee and office of inspector general. But he was unable to get a second motion from his board colleagues. Supervisors Chuck Washington and Manuel Perez said they were open to further discussion on the proposal and wanted to engage in more dialogue with the community.
Bianco, who spoke at that board meeting, called Medina’s proposal an attempt to gain political control and influence over his office. For the first time in county history, he said, “divisive partisan politics have officially entered Riverside County government.”
Under Medina’s proposal, the ad hoc committee would have explored the structure and funding for an oversight committee and inspector general. If approved, the committee would advise the Board of Supervisors and the Sheriff’s Department, but would not have managerial or disciplinary powers.
Medina declined to comment on Tuesday.
About 100 people showed up at the July 29 meeting supporting Medina’s proposal, and many of them appeared during Tuesday’s news conference. Anthony Noriega, California District 5 director for the League of United Latin American Citizens, called July 29 a “tragic day.”
Among family members who spoke Tuesday was Lisa Matus, whose son Richard Matus Jr., 29, died of a fentanyl overdose at the Cois M. Byrd Detention Center in French Valley on Aug. 11, 2022. In 2022, 19 people died in Riverside County sheriff’s custody, the highest number of deaths the department had in 15 years.
“Accountability and oversight is necessary. No one should ever be left to die behind the walls,” Matus said. “Our Riverside County supervisors and Sheriff Chad Bianco have rejected any form of independent oversight. When you call yourself a leader, you’re supposed to uphold checks and balances, not avoid them.
“Leadership means protecting the people you serve, but that’s not happening here in Riverside County. Right now we are upside down. We’re fighting for truth, we’re fighting for justice, and for people who can’t speak for themselves, who have lost their lives in these jails.”
Kathy Nigro, whose 20-year-old son, Michael Vasquez, also died of a fentanyl overdose at the Cois Byrd Detention Center on May 26, 2022 — six days after he was booked on suspicion of burglary and attempted auto theft — said she “will keep fighting until the end” for justice.
In a statement Tuesday, Bianco, who is running for governor in next year’s election, said, “Riverside County has elected me to keep them safe regardless of who they vote for. We will not be controlled or bullied by anti-law enforcement, pro-criminal activists distorting and misrepresenting facts for their own agenda. Truth matters.”
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