Former San Luis Obispo County deputy guilty of abusing inmate

August 14, 2024

By KAREN VELIE

A federal judge sentenced a former San Luis Obispo County sheriff’s deputy today to seven months in federal prison for abusing a county jail inmate by dragging the victim by her hair on the ground  from one cell and then throwing her into another jail cell.

Joshua Fischer, 42, of Grover Beach pleaded guilty on April 2 to one misdemeanor count of deprivation of rights under color of law. As part of his plea agreement, Fischer agreed he would not again work as a sworn law enforcement officer.

U.S. District Judge André Birotte Jr. said Fisher’s actions toward the victim showed a “level of callousness” and “disdain” toward the victim and that his use of force was “unreasonable.”

From Jan. 2017 through Dec. 2018, Fischer worked as a SLO County Sheriff’s Office senior correctional deputy.

On Nov. 18, 2018, Fischer assaulted a bare chested female inmate who had exited her cell, and then returned to her cell. After the inmate returned to her cell, Fischer grabbed her from behind by her hair while she was still topless and dragged her on the ground into another cell.

Fischer then falsified a SLO County sheriff’s incident report by including false statements that the victim had thrown her shirt on the ground after removing it outside her cell, that she yelled and flailed her arms while re-entering her cell, and that Fischer “was in fear for the safety of the other female arrestee in the cell” because the victim was “still without her shirt, yelling and flailing her arms,” according to court records.

However, the victim did not throw her shirt on the ground after removing it outside the cell, she was not flailing her arms around as she re-entered her cell, but instead her arms were by her side and then near her bare chest when Fischer assaulted her.

In his plea agreement, Fischer admitted that he knew his use of force during the November 2018 incident was unreasonable and unnecessary. He also admitted that he acted willfully, intending to deprive the victim of her right to be free from the use of unreasonable and unnecessary force by a law enforcement officer.

Prior to the filing of charges in this case, the San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Office terminated Fischer’s employment.

The FBI investigated this matter with assistance from the San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Office.

Assistant United States Attorneys Thomas F. Rybarczyk and Frances S. Lewis of the Public Corruption and Civil Rights Section prosecuted this case.

For years, the SLO County Jail has been dogged with allegations of civil rights abuses against inmates and of failures to follow state and federal rules and regulations.

In Jan. 2017, the county violated multiple rules and regulations in the treatment of Andrew Holland, a mentally ill man who died after being strapped in a restraint chair for two days in the SLO County Jail.

Following Holland’s death, the county paid a $5 million settlement to his parents and agreed to make multiple changes at the jail. Those changes included restricting the amount of time inmates can be locked in the rubber room to 72 hours, discontinuing use of the restraint chair and decreasing the amount of time it takes for the transfer of an inmate who has been court ordered to a mental health facility.

More than a year after the FBI mounted a criminal investigation into alleged civil rights abuses of inmates at the jail following Holland’s death, in 2018, the Department of Justice opened an investigation into how the sheriff’s department is complying with federal laws.

In 2021, SLO County agreed to pay a former inmate $175,000 and to correct violations of the American’s with disabilities Act that led the inmate to suffer a broken leg, according to an agreement finalized on June 23 between the United States and SLO County.

An inmate with a prosthetic leg alleged that as a result of being forced to use inaccessible facilities, he repeatedly fell. One of these falls caused him to fracture the femur bone in his partially amputated leg.

 

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