El Paso County votes to settle potential lawsuits over death of Dezaree Archuleta in the jail
The El Paso County Board of Commissioners voted Tuesday to settle potential lawsuits over an 18-year-old’s death in El Paso County jail for $1 million.
The commission approved the settlement on a 4-1 vote with no discussion. Commissioner Longinos Gonzalez voted against the settlement.
The settlement resolves all claims stemming from Dezaree Archuleta’s medical and mental health care while in the jail, it states.
Archuleta died by suicide in the jail on June 9, 2022, after she was removed from suicide watch during her 21-day stay, her family and friends previously said.
Her death sparked a call for changes at the jail, including civilian oversight and reinvestment into medical and living facilities at the jail among other changes.
The Sheriff’s Office did not answer Gazette questions about whether any changes the family called for have been implemented. But it did issue a statement extending condolences to the family.
“It is our hope this settlement allows the family to further heal from this loss,” Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman Cassandra Sebastian said, in the statement.
Since Archuleta’s death, Sheriff Bill Elder reached the end of his second term and voters replaced him with Sheriff Joe Roybal, the previous undersheriff.
Roybal evaluated Sheriff’s Office operations after he was elected in November 2022 and found it was vital to find a medical provider for the jail to meet its unique needs, he said, in a news release from earlier this month.
The county ended its contract with WellPath at the end of December and hired VitalCore Health Strategies to provide services for $11 million in 2024.
In the news release, Roybal said the majority of inmates have previous existing “undertreated or undiagnosed medical issues, such as drug addictions or chronic mental health issues.”
In 2023 five people are believed to have died in the jail’s custody, The Gazette reported previously. Three of those people died of natural causes and one was classified as accidental and related to a fentanyl intoxication. The El Paso County Coroner’s Office is still finishing the autopsy for the 44-year-old man who died in the jail at the end of the year.
Dezaree Archuleta’s family and friends set up a small memorial for her outside the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office for a moment of silence during 2022.
