Santa Barbara County officials launch investigation into in-custody jail death

Santa Barbara County officials launched an investigation on Monday into the death of a man being held in custody at the Northern Branch Jail in Santa Maria, according to the Sheriff’s Office.

Jail and medical staff found the unidentified man in his cell around 2:19 p.m. while making medical rounds in one of the jail’s housing units, according to a statement released Monday. The man was unresponsive and not breathing.

Jail officials administered two rounds of Narcan, an overdose-reversal nasal spray, performed CPR and used an automated external defibrillator, a device used to mitigate heart attacks. Additional medical personnel were called to the jail, “but the decedent did not recover and was pronounced dead at 2:46 p.m. without being transported,” the statement said.

Officials are not releasing the name of the individual until they can contact his family.

The sheriff’s criminal investigation bureau and the coroner’s office have launched an investigation.