Identity, cause of death revealed for Sacramento County inmate who died in custody

The man who died while in the custody of the Sacramento County Rio Cosumnes Correctional Center in April has been identified.

Jose Quinonez Palomares was the 57-year-old man who died April 5, according to a report from the county coroner.

Quinonez Palomares was found unresponsive in his bunk, then transported to the hospital, where he died the same day, according to a Sheriff’s Office Facebook post.

Medical professionals determined Quinonez Palomares’ cause of death was cardiovascular disease, with obesity listed as a significant condition, according to the report.

He had been incarcerated since November 2025, and was awaiting trial, according to the Sheriff’s Office. He was transported from the Elk Grove jail to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead. He had been charged with felonies involving sexual assault against minors, according to the sheriff’s office.

Quinonez Palomares was the third known Sacramento County inmate to die in custody so far this year.

Donnell Cox, 62, died Jan. 14 after he stopped breathing at the main jail, and was transported to the hospital, the Sheriff’s Office posted to social media at the time.

Medical professionals later determined Cox’s cause of death was acute pulmonary thromboembolism and deep vein thrombosis, according to the death report. Those conditions have to do with artery blockages in the lungs, and deep blood clots. He tested negative for all “commonly used illicit drugs,” the autopsy report noted.

Cox had been in custody since December 2024, according to the Sheriff’s Office, and was still awaiting trial over a year later. His charges included absconding from parole, failing to register as a felony sex offender with a prior conviction, assault with a deadly weapon, and other violations related to PC 290 sex registration, the Sheriff’s Office said on social media at the time of his death.

Eric Lee Rosenberg, 40, died Feb. 8, after he suffered an apparent seizure at the jail and was transported to the hospital, the Sheriff’s Office said on social media at the time. Coroner’s office officials determined his cause of death was abdominal compartment syndrome and acute chronic polysubstance use disorder.

It’s unclear how long Rosenberg had been in custody or whether he was able to ingest drugs while inside the jail. Sacramento Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Sgt. Edward Igoe did not immediately respond to a request for comment on that case. The Sheriff’s Office did not announce Rosenberg’s charges at the time of his death.

Overdose deaths have been an ongoing issue in recent years at the jail, which has been under a federal Consent Decree since a 2019, when a class action lawsuit alleged medical and mental health mistreatment at the Rio Cosumnes Correctional Center. In 2025 and so far in 2026, Sacramento County has paid at least $2.45 million in settlements to the families of four men who died while incarcerated at the main jail.

In 2023, a then-medical assistant working for Avid Healthcare Services was charged with smuggling meth into the jail. The jail has also since increased withdrawal monitoring, as well as hired a new county medical director, Dr. Thomas Bzoskie, restructured nursing director positions, and added naloxone administration to the standard pill-call process, County Spokesperson Elizabeth Zelidon has said.