Four people charged with allegedly bringing drugs and tools into Sacramento jail
The Sacramento County District Attorney’s Office has charged four people with attempting to smuggle drugs into the downtown jail, as well as tools that could be used for inmates to escape.
On Aug. 29, the four people were attempting to smuggle cocaine and meth into the Sacramento Main Jail with the intention to sell it, when they were arrested by the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office, alleged a complaint filed by the District Attorney’s Office Thursday. They also attempted to bring in security drill bits which are “useful in aiding an escape,” the complaint alleged.
Donald Louis Zackery, 24, Tomani Doneisha Zackery, 23, Zareonna Dupresha Harris, 23, and James Willard Whitfield, 45, were identified as the arrested individuals.
The four were not already being held in custody at the time of the charges, the complaint said.
However, the jail’s website lists that Whitfield was booked in May and Donald Zackery was booked in January 2022. Tomani Zackery and Harris were booked Aug. 29.
A county spokeswoman would not comment on the charges or whether those charged were employees of the county or its contractors.
“This matter is currently under investigation by the Sheriff’s Department, we do not comment on open investigations,” said spokeswoman Samantha Mott.
As of Tuesday morning, the four were ineligible for bail, with court dates set for Thursday.
Sheriff’s Office spokesman Sgt. Amar Gandhi declined to say whether the four were employees of his office.
Gandhi and DA spokeswoman Shelly Orio both declined to comment on the charges Tuesday. The Sheriff’s Office plans to hold a news conference about the charges when an investigation is complete, Gandhi said.
The charges come at a time when the jail is under scrutiny for an increase in overdose deaths. Three inmates have died at the jail so far this year of suspected drug overdoses — deaths that could have been prevented with adequate monitoring and detoxification, according to a new report by two medical professionals tasked with independently monitoring medical care of Sacramento inmates under a federal settlement. Unlike homicides and suicides, medical deaths at the jail, including overdoses, typically lack any independent oversight.
The San Francisco-based Prison Law Office, the plaintiff for the federal lawsuit, last month wrote a letter to the the Sheriff’s Office demanding they start screening jail staff for drugs — a request the county denied.
“This exactly shows you can crack down on incarcerated people as much as you want but if staff can still walk in with drugs then it defeats the purpose of these measures,” said Margot Mendelson, Prison Law Office legal director on Tuesday, referring to the charges.
Whitfield was in 2006 convicted of attempted murder, the complaint said, while Donald Zackery was convicted in 2020 of attempted first degree residential burglary.
This story was originally published September 5, 2023 at 5:16 PM.
