The Santa Clara County Sheriff's Office and custody health partners reported a rise in inmate grievance submissions during a semiannual presentation to the Public Safety and Justice Committee on Nov. 13.

The department reported 6,822 total grievance submissions for fiscal year 2025, up from 5,917 the prior year, and about 3,539 submissions in the second half of the fiscal year alone, custody-health staff said. "For fiscal year 2025, we have a total of 6,822 submissions compared to fiscal year 2024 when we had the 5,917 grama submissions," a custody health presenter said during the briefing.

The report identified the top five grievance categories as medical services; policy/rule book; non-custody-related items; technology; and staff conduct, which together represented about 49% of submissions in the second half of fiscal 2025. Presenters said the grievance unit maintains a centralized review and tracking system and aims to return meaningful responses within 30 days, and they described steps to improve consistency and record-keeping.

Metrics presented for timeliness showed mixed results. While the unit reported that over 99% of grievances were entered and answered within 30 days overall, one chart showed a marked drop in timeliness for the main jail compared with an earlier period (the main jail response rate was displayed in the slides as declining from a prior 96% to about 83%). Custody-health staff attributed the decline to training gaps and said corrective training had been implemented.

The appeal process yielded relatively few reversals: of roughly 3,500 grievances submitted in the period, 209 (6%) were appealed and only four appeals (about 2% of appealed cases) resulted in overturned decisions and new resolutions.

Supervisors asked for clearer categorization of grievances. One supervisor suggested relabeling the "not a custody related issue" category as "inactionable," noting that many entries came from individuals with serious mental illness or documentation that was nonactionable (for example, drawings or rhetoric). An additional request from the board asked staff to separate "positive comments" from formal grievances so that praise does not inflate grievance totals.

"I want to also take a minute to thank, Sheriff Johnson and your team, for the really much improved grievance process," Supervisor Lee said during the discussion, commending the increased transparency while urging better labeling and reporting.

The committee voted to receive the report. Members requested follow-up reporting that would provide clearer category labels, a breakdown of sick calls versus grievances and steps custody health will take to improve timeliness and documentation. The motion to approve the report carried on a voice vote.