For the fourth time in 10 years, a grand jury report is calling for significant health and safety improvements at the Santa Barbara County Coroner’s Office.
"We often call ourselves the last responders instead of first responders, and we are here to provide closure," said Lt. Jarrett Morris, Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Office.
Lt. Morris has worked at the coroner’s office for six years. After a recent grand jury report raised several health and safety concerns, Morris gave KSBY News reporter Juliet Lemar a tour of the facility, showing off many improvements completed or in progress, addressing some of the concerns in the report.
“Are the things in the grand jury report now being addressed?" Lemar asked.
“Yes, and to be fair, they were being addressed before the report came out. There are things that need to be improved in this building, we’ve outgrown it with storage, simply," Lt. Morris said.
The main cold storage unit is designed to hold up to 18 bodies, but due to lack of space, evidence from criminal cases is stored in the main cold storage, too. Leaving room for just 12 bodies.
"There are times when this fills up and we run out of space to put decedents," Morris said.
When that happens, they turn to mortuaries and funeral homes for help.
The grand jury report also claims the 50-year-old building is unsafe and in critical need of repairs, which Morris understands but denies any danger.
“Could this building be better? Yes. Is it substandard or dangerous for us to work here? No. Nothing stopped us from doing our job, we haven’t had any of our personnel get sick or injured. Would we like stuff to not break all the time? Yeah, but we’re getting the job done for the community,” Morris said.
Lemar sat down with grand jury Foreperson Eva Marcias to review the report.
"We’re the eyes over the government, over the county government. We can do cities, we can do the whole county. We can investigate anybody except the court," Marcias explained.
Among the dozen recommendations and findings in the report, one of the most disturbing allegations is that autopsies were performed outside. Morris says that’s only the case in mass causality events, like the 2019 Conception boat fire that killed 34 people, or if a body is severely decomposed.
Marcias stands behind the report.
“When they come back with findings, how do you decide what to include”? Lemar asked.
“There’s a format, and it has to be facts,” Marcias said. "There has to be at least two sources that verify what's going on or what was said.“
While the findings in the grand jury reports from 2013, 2015, and 2020 were different, the big carryover was concern about the aging building.
Each report takes around five months and is independent of previous investigations.
"We go in with a fresh slate. The history, the notes, who they talked to, who was involved — everything’s deleted," Marcias said.
Santa Barbara County Sheriff Bill Brown responded to the report about a week ago, stating the office has made significant repairs to the roof and mold abatement and is implementing a plan to replace the building by 2039.
"They just keep putting band-aids on stuff,” Marcias said as she reviewed the sheriff's response for the first time.
“How do you feel after reading this? Do you think the jury will come back with another report in the future?" Lemar asked.
“I would be surprised if they did not, so that’s a yes,” Marcias said.
The Sheriff’s Office and the County Board of Supervisors are not required to make any changes based on grand jury reports.
Although the sheriff and the grand jury do not agree on many issues, they’re together on one — more space is desperately needed.
Sheriff Brown and the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors declined to be interviewed for this story.
