The children of George Anthony Ortiz are suing Riverside County over his death at the Larry D. Smith Correctional Facility in Banning, alleging that jail and medical personnel failed to respond appropriately as his health deteriorated. The federal case was filed Sept. 9 in U.S. District Court in Riverside. The Press-Enterprise and the San Bernardino Sun reported that the lawsuit asserts wrongful-death and federal civil-rights claims.
The suit names Riverside County, three unnamed correctional deputies, three nurses and three other staff members. It alleges inadequate medical care, deficient training and supervision, and unconstitutional policies or practices, according to The Press-Enterprise. The allegations have not been tested or proven in court.
What the lawsuit alleges
According to the complaint as described by The Press-Enterprise and the San Bernardino Sun, Ortiz, 62, was booked at about 4 p.m. on March 16 on a misdemeanor fentanyl-possession charge. The suit says he repeatedly reported feeling ill and in severe pain, with vomiting, weakness, difficulty standing and shortness of breath. The plaintiffs characterize those symptoms as consistent with opioid withdrawal.
The lawsuit alleges that staff failed to adequately evaluate or treat Ortiz, conduct sufficient in-person assessments, or transfer him to a higher level of care. It says he was unable to attend his March 18 arraignment because of severe withdrawal, vomiting and diarrhea. These are allegations in the complaint, not independent findings about the cause of his death.
The complaint says Ortiz later began convulsing and appeared to have a seizure. Other inmates allegedly tried to alert custody personnel, but a deputy eventually found Ortiz unresponsive during a check. Emergency responders pronounced him dead at the facility, according to the lawsuit as reported by the two local news outlets.
The cause of death, including whether fentanyl played a role, remained unclear in the reporting. The lawsuit does not establish that withdrawal caused Ortiz’s death or that any individual defendant was responsible.
The case comes amid jail oversight disputes
Riverside County’s jail system has faced broader scrutiny. The California Attorney General’s Office opened a civil-rights investigation into the Riverside County Sheriff’s Office in 2023 concerning alleged conditions of confinement, excessive force and other misconduct. The state said at the time that it had made no determination about specific complaints or the agency’s overall policies and practices: California Department of Justice.
The San Bernardino Sun reported that Riverside County recorded 19 jail deaths in 2022 and that a civil grand jury criticized persistent in-custody deaths, limited transparency and the lack of independent oversight. Sheriff Chad Bianco disputed the grand jury’s findings and defended the department’s transparency. In July 2026, the Riverside County Board of Supervisors approved a committee to study possible civilian oversight of the Sheriff’s Department, according to the same report.
Earlier calls for independent review
The Riverside County Civil Grand Jury archive also lists a 2017-2018 report concerning independent autopsy reviews for in-custody deaths involving the Sheriff’s Department and coroner’s office, according to the Riverside County Civil Grand Jury archive.
A Southern California News Group investigation cited by the local reports counted 478 deaths in the jails of Los Angeles, Orange, San Bernardino and Riverside counties from January 2020 through November 2025. The investigation found that about 22% involved overdoses, nearly half were attributed to natural causes and about 14% were suicides, while also documenting cases involving missed warning signs, delayed emergency responses and inadequate medical or mental-health care.
