A Southern California investigative journalist filed a lawsuit Friday, Dec. 5, accusing Riverside County of violating state law by refusing to release public records about inmate deaths in the county jail system.

The lawsuit was filed by the First Amendment Coalition on behalf of former Desert Sun reporter Christopher Damien and the New York Times, which had employed Damien as an investigations fellow when he reported a series of stories on inmate deaths in Riverside County jails that occurred in 2022 and 2023.

He requested coroner’s reports on 46 individuals who died in custody, as well as investigation reports and other related records and video.

Despite a law passed in 2023 requiring public release of previously confidential records related to in-custody deaths at detention fac

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