A 36-year-old Oakland woman has died following an incident at Santa Rita Jail in Dublin, marking the fourth in-custody death at the facility this year, according to the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office.
Authorities identified the woman as Jessica Watson. According to Alameda County Sheriff’s Sgt. Roberto Morales, Watson had been arrested by Hayward police on October 10 on suspicion of domestic violence and driving under the influence.
Three days after her booking, on October 13, deputies discovered Watson shortly after 8:30 p.m. seated on the lower bunk of her cell. Morales stated that Watson did not respond to deputies, prompting them to enter the cell, where they observed what appeared to be a ligature around her neck. Morales did not specify the exact nature of the object.
Deputies determined that Watson still had a pulse and initiated life-saving measures at the scene. Emergency crews transported her to a hospital, where she remained until her death on October 22 at approximately 5:30 p.m. Morales noted that Watson’s family was notified of her hospitalization during this period, and she was technically released from custody while receiving hospital care.
The official cause of death remains pending and will be determined by a forensic pathologist. With this incident, Watson becomes the 79th person to die in custody at Santa Rita Jail since 2014.
In discussing the response, the sheriff’s office emphasized that deputies entered the cell immediately to check on Watson when she failed to respond to inquiries. This immediate intervention marks a procedural contrast to previous incidents at the facility, such as the 2021 death of Maurice Monk of Oakland.
Monk died after lying unresponsive in his Santa Rita cell for roughly three days, surrounded by food trays and bodily fluids, before being discovered. A subsequent civil lawsuit revealed that deputies had failed to perform meaningful welfare checks during that time, leading to a $7 million settlement for Monk’s family and mandated reform policies at the jail.
