1. The news of Donald
Trump getting
dumped by Macy’s,
NBC Universal, Uni-
vision and Televisa is
a story that seems to
indicate the growing
power of Latinos in
America.
Trump, the billionaire
real-estate magnate, TV
star and Republican presi-
dential hopeful has lost
millions in business deals
for trashing Mexico, Mex-
icans and immigrants
during a June speech in
which he announced his
candidacy.
“When Mexico sends its
people, they’re not send-
ing their best,” he said.
“They’re sending people
that have lots of problems
... They’re bringing drugs,
they’re bringing crime.
They’re rapists.”
Widespread condemna-
tion of his comments
arrived around the same
time as new U.S. Census
Bureau numbers that
show Latinos are now the
largest ethnic group in
California, representing
39 percent of the
population. This seemed
to be further proof that
Trump picked the wrong
group to alienate.
“We will do more than
tweet about our indigna-
tion,” the actress America
Ferrera said in a state-
ment directed at Trump.
“We will silence you at
the polls. We will vote and
use our growing position
in U.S politics. Our fellow
Americans who under-
stand and value our con-
tributions will join us. We
know there is nothing that
scares you more.”
Even though he would
never admit it, Trump and
others should fear a Lati-
no backlash – but not the
kind that Ferrera so
proudly asserts.
Focusing on the num-
bers, it is clear that Latino
purchasing power is a
force in American culture
– one that caused those
big companies to move
away from Trump for fear
of offending customers.
But Latino power at the
ballot box is not nearly the
force Ferrera would like to
believe it is – or as con-
ventional wisdom would
Latino
power –
for now
– rests
in retail
OPINION
BY MARCOS BRETON
JIM COLE The Associated Press
Several firms have cut ties
with Donald Trump over
his immigration remarks.
SEE BRETON, 3B
SUNDAY JULY 5 2015 1BFACEBOOK.COM/SACRAMENTOBEE
TWITTER.COM/SACBEE_NEWSSACBEE.COM
Local CHILDREN SEEK AID
FOR FUNERAL OF
MOM FATALLY HURT
AT RIVER PARTY. 2B
FAMILY MOURNS
Prisoners at the over-
crowded and understaffed
Yuba County Jail have
found formidable allies in
law students studying civil
rights at UC Davis.
Last fall, three students
from the UC Davis School
of Law’s renowned Civil
Rights Clinic went before
the county grand jury with
detailed findings on how
the Marysville jail is run.
Among other criticisms,
they said the jail has failed
to provide treatment or
medication for mentally ill
inmates and to protect
prisoners from assault by
other inmates. The stu-
dents’ role was made
public in late May with the
release of the previously
confidential grand jury
report for 2014-15.
The prisoners didn’t set
out to get student help,
but they needed repre-
sentation when the Yuba
County Counsel’s Office
moved in Sacramento
federal court to dismiss a
long-ignored consent
decree put in place in
1979 to govern the jail’s
operation.
The California Rural
Legal Assistance lawyers
who filed the 1976 lawsuit
that led to the consent
decree, and who mon-
itored how the Sheriff’s
Department obeyed the
document’s mandates,
had to abandon their roles
as watchdogs in 1996
because of legal and eco-
nomic restrictions. So
there was no enforcement
of the decree’s terms for
18 years, until the County
Counsel’s Office filed its
motion in 2013.
Consequently, the fed-
eral court in Sacramento
looked for a lawyer to
represent the prisoners
and reached out last year
THE PUBLIC EYE
UCD law students
aid Yuba jail inmates
. .................................................................................................................
Students investigate conditions at jail, interview
inmates
. .................................................................................................................
Findings reported to Yuba County grand jury
. .................................................................................................................
County officials ignored consent decree for 18 years
. .................................................................................................................
BY DENNY WALSH
dwalsh@sacbee.com
SEE JAIL, 4B
About one in 25 people
worldwide suffer from
depression, but many
cultures refuse to ac-
knowledge the problem
because of the social
stigma of mental illness,
said Dr. Russell Lim,
director of diversity edu-
cation and training for
the UC Davis Department
of Psychiatry and Behav-
ioral Sciences.
Lim, 53, trains future
doctors to help Sacra-
mento’s growing refugee
population overcome that
stigma. His clinical focus
on transcultural and com-
munity psychiatry helps
immigrants get treatment
for depression, anxiety,
agitation, bipolar and
psychotic disorders, and
post-traumatic stress.
Last month, Lim received
the Kun-Po Soo Award
from the American Psy-
chiatric Association “for
his contributions to un-
derstanding the impor-
tance of understanding
culture in mental health
issues,” said UC Davis
Medical
Center
spokeswo-
man Phyllis
Brown.
Lim’s
work is
critical to
the region’s
mental
health, as about 29,000
refugees fleeing war,
persecution, gang vio-
lence and natural disas-
ters have resettled over
the last 20 years in Sacra-
mento County, which has
taken in more
Q&ABY STEPHEN MAGAGNINI
AND PHILLIP REESE
smagagnini@sacbee.com
Psychiatrist discusses
mental health stigma
Immigrant cultures may shun it as a taboo
Dr. Russell
Lim
SEE TABOO, 4B
W
hile much of
Sacramento
grappled
Saturday
with how to beat the
midday heat, relief was
just a few feet away for
the thousands of locals
and visitors who spent
Independence Day on the
water.
The Sacramento and
American rivers were
packed with boaters who
took to the water for a
weekend of swimming,
lounging and watching
fireworks.
“You come up here,
you get the lovely Amer-
ican River water,” said
Paul Hairell of Sacra-
mento, who spent the
holiday on his boat Beach
Inn anchored up from the
rivers’ confluence.
“Fourth of July out here is
being in the middle of the
city and you don’t even
know it.”
The rivers offer a varie-
ty of playgrounds. Jet Skis
ripped around the open
waters Saturday. Kids
braved a rope swing at-
tached to a large cotton-
wood tree. As many as
2,000 people waded in
JOSÉ LUIS VILLEGAS jvillegas@sacbee.com
Swimmers cool themselves in the shallow water near the confluence of the American and Sacramento rivers on Saturday afternoon.
On scorching Fourth,
rivers are place to be
Nicolas Rodriguez, 8, of West Sacramento tries to catch a football as he leaps off a
boat on the American River on Saturday afternoon.
BY ED FLETCHER
efletcher@sacbee.com
‘‘FOURTH OF JULY OUT HERE IS BEING
IN THE MIDDLE OF THE CITY AND
YOU DON’T EVEN KNOW IT.
Paul Hairell of Sacramento, who spent the holiday
on his boat
SEE RIVERS, 3B

2. 4B SUNDAY JULY 5 2015
Local SACBEE.COM
A Ministry of the Diocese of Sacramento
Catholic Funeral & Cemetery Services
Calvary Catholic Cemetery
7101 Verner Avenue
George L. Klumpp Chapel of Flowers
2691 Riverside Boulevard
St. Mary’s Catholic Cemetery
6700 21st Avenue
Your complete resource for Advanced Planning and end-of-life services.
Advanced Planning Parish Discount Available
(855) 863-1437
www.cfcsSacramento.org
A Simple, Dignified Cremation..............$
695
ALL FAITH CREMATION
Literature upon request.
LIC# FD1535 Price subject to change
105 Arden Way, Sacramento, CA 95815
(916) 922-0992
www.allfaithcremation.com
Zip
Name
Address
City
Phone
to Carter “Cappy” White,
the Civil Rights Clinic’s
director and supervising
attorney, who agreed to
take on the task. When
you get White, you get his
students.
Over the next year and
a half, the students delved
into the operations of the
jail, in-
terviewing
scores of
prisoners.
Amanda
Whitney – a
26-year-old
third-year
law student
from Ba-
kersfield
and one of
nine students who have
worked on the case – con-
ducted interviews with
inmates, met with jail
staff, and pored over doc-
uments such as grievances
and incident reports.
The experience was
“incredibly valuable,” she
said, “in terms of learning
practical skills and finding
out what the real world is
like.”
The grand jury report
says the large number of
inmates and their “com-
plicated needs,” plus “the
inadequacy of the facility
itself,” are a challenge to
the staff of the jail.
That jury report, White
said, “confirms much of
what we have learned
about the need to improve
access to medical and
mental health care at the
jail.” He said attorneys
and students have found
jail officials receptive to
some suggestions about
improvements but resist-
ant to others, citing bud-
get limitations.
In response to the evi-
dence presented by the
student lawyers, the grand
jury recommended that
the Yuba County jail beef
up medical and mental
health care for prisons, in
part by having a full-time
credentialed mental
health counselor and a
full-time registered nurse
available to handle their
needs. It said the county
should reduce the use of a
“rubber room” to contain
mentally ill prisoners and
avoid delays in transfer-
ring prisoners to outside
hospitals.
Shortcomings at the jail
have been noted for de-
cades.
The underlying lawsuit
challenging conditions
was eventually certified as
a class action, and the
consent decree resolved
most of the suit’s claims.
While the decree remains
in place to this day, its
mandate that each county
grand jury be made aware
of the document and its
terms has been ignored
since the CRLA lawyers
bowed out.
The 2014-15 grand jury
reported that it discovered
the decree’s existence
“through media reports
regarding another agen-
cy.” It then examined
federal court records,
learning that the Yuba
County counsel’s office
knew of its legal obliga-
tion to supply a copy of
the decree to the jury but
failed to do so, according
to the report.
In the 2013 motion to
terminate the decree, John
Vacek, Yuba County’s
chief deputy counsel,
wrote that while the court-
approved pact “may have
made some sense in the
1970s, much of it is as
relevant today as bell
bottom pants and disco
music.”
Since the decree was
adopted, circumstances at
the jail have changed. For
example, when the suit
was filed, the design ca-
pacity for the jail was 150
and the staff numbered
19. There are now 60 staff
members and the build-
ing, renovated in 1995, is
designed for 428 inmates.
White and his students
stepped in last year and
vigorously opposed termi-
nation of the consent
degree, noting that past
grand jury reports had
described conditions and
practices still not in com-
pliance with the decree,
including how often in-
mates get clean under-
wear and towels and have
access to the exercise
yard, how often unusable
recreation equipment is
replaced, how often de-
toxification holding cells
are cleaned, and the fre-
quency and response time
of medical and dental
care.
The Civil Rights Clinic’s
team also pointed out that
the jail operates, in part,
as a facility for federal
immigration detainees,
and they are protected by
the consent decree just
like all other prisoners.
The county argued the
opposite, saying that the
Prison Litigation Reform
Act does not provide a
basis for such protection.
U.S. District Judge Gar-
land E. Burrell Jr. granted
time for White and his
students to do some fact-
finding. At a second round
of briefing, the clinic
urged the judge to main-
tain the majority of the
decree, “at least in the
areas of outdoor exercise,
medical care, grievance
procedures, hygiene, and
housing and safety.”
Burrell denied the dis-
missal motion in April
2014, ruling that the coun-
ty had failed “to demon-
strate that there are no
ongoing constitutional
violations” of the inmates’
rights. For defending the
motion, Burrell awarded
attorneys’ fees and costs
totaling $7,827 to White
and his students, $6,192
of which were fees for the
students’ labors.
The county appealed
Burrell’s rejection of its
motion and his award of
fees and costs. The 9th
U.S. Circuit Court of Ap-
peals has stayed the
awards appeal pending its
decision on the denial of
the motion. The appeal
will probably be decided
next year.
After winning the first
critical round in district
court, the students in-
vestigated further under
White’s guidance, mon-
itored the jail’s operation
and presented their find-
ings to the grand jury in
November. It’s that jury’s
report that was released in
May.
Whitney, the student
who worked on the case
this past academic year,
said she took away a real-
ization of how critical the
need is for quality treat-
ment of mentally ill in-
mates. “You read about it
a lot, but there’s no way
you can understand the
seriousness of the
problem unless you see it
up close. People are get-
ting hurt,” she said.
The civil rights clinic is
one of the reasons Whit-
ney chose UC Davis to
study law, she said. With-
out it, she said, she
“would never have known
what jail is really like. It is
something that will stick
with me the rest of my
life.”
Denny Walsh: 916-321-1189
. .................................................................................................................
Appellate brief
Carter “Cappy” White, director of the UC Davis School
of Law Civil Rights Clinic and its supervising attorney,
and two of his students submitted a 43-page brief in
October to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in a
case involving conditions at the Yuba County jail.
Among their findings:
A Inmates are consistently denied access to adequate
medical care and inmates with serious mental health
conditions, such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder,
have been deprived of access to mental health services and
medication.
A The jail has failed to protect prisoners from assault by
other inmates in entirely preventable situations.
A Inmates are subjected to an unreasonable risk of harm
due to the fact that jail employees fail to properly (check)
and supervise cell blocks and housing units, and many jail
housing units lack a means for inmates to contact jail
staff in case of medical crisis or other emergency.
A Evidence exists of unsanitary conditions, lack of access
to outdoor exercise and reprisals or retaliation against
inmates who file grievances.
. .................................................................................................................
Carter White
UC Davis law students Jeff Mendelman, left, Amanda Whitney and Benjamin Lewis
brought their findings about problems at the Yuba jail before the county grand jury.
FROM PAGE 1B
JAIL
‘‘THERE’S NO WAY
YOU CAN
UNDERSTAND THE
SERIOUSNESS OF
THE PROBLEM
UNLESS YOU SEE
IT UP CLOSE.
Law student Amanda
Whitney about the Yuba
County jail
18
The number of years a
consent decree was ignored
by Yuba County officials
Carter
“Cappy”
White
refugees per capita than
almost any area in the
nation. Over the past five
years alone, 1,200 Iraqi
refugees have settled in
Sacramento County.
In 2014-15, the U.S.
government issued 1,400
special immigrant visas to
Afghans and Iraqis in
Sacramento County who
worked for the U.S. mil-
itary during the recent
wars. Lim, editor of the
2015 Clinical Manual of
Cultural Psychiatry, dis-
cussed the challenges of
bridging cultures to save
lives.
Q:Q: What kind of psychiat-
ric cases are we now deal-
ing with in the region?
A:A: I probably see 200 to
250 patients a year who
speak at least eight differ-
ent languages. We see
people from Iraq, Af-
ghanistan, Armenia, Rus-
sia, Ukraine, Laos, Viet-
nam, China, Cambodia
and South Asia. Every
culture has some stigma
about having a mental
illness. What makes the
illnesses different in dif-
ferent countries is the
language they use to tell
you how they hurt. In
China, emotions that can
signal mental illness are
often conveyed through
metaphors – “heartache”
means sadness, while
“fatigue” usually means
hurt and despair. The
Hmong associate the liver
with various symptoms,
including sadness, and
Cambodian patients say
they have a “weak heart”
when they’re depressed.
A typical case would be
a 35-year-old Iraqi who
fled in 2012 because he’d
worked for the U.S. Em-
bassy as an interpreter. He
was always worried he’d
be kidnapped and shot.
He can’t sleep due to
repeated nightmares
about the drone attacks he
witnessed, or about one of
his friends whom he saw
shot and killed. He cries
daily. He has flashbacks
during the day that come
with no provocation. He
avoids going out in public.
He’s unable to clean his
home or prepare his own
meals. He thinks about
suicide frequently, but
won’t hurt himself, be-
cause the Quran forbids
suicide.
Q:Q: How can people help
immigrants who appear
to be struggling with
mental health problems?
A:A: You can call Sacra-
mento County Mental
Health at 916-875-1055 or
888-881-4881 after hours.
They have interpreters
available and screen pa-
tients for mental disor-
ders. Those eligible for
treatment will be referred
to a county clinic for eval-
uation and scheduled with
a psychiatrist who can
prescribe medications.
The county will take pa-
tients without private
insurance and cover those
suffering from PTSD. We
have new medications we
didn’t have 10 years ago,
but the basic job is still
listening to people and
helping them feel better.
Q:Q: How can communities
get past the stigma asso-
ciated with seeking men-
tal health services?
A:A: Often immigrants
and refugees turn to herb-
al medicine, acupuncture
and religious leaders,
delaying sending a loved
one to a psychiatrist who
can diagnose the illness
and prescribe proper
treatment. Grigoriy Buk-
hantsov (a Ukrainian
refugee charged at age 19
with killing his sister-in-
law, her 3-year-old daugh-
ter and 2-year-old son in
2012 in Rancho Cordova)
had been having issues for
several years prior to the
murders. He’d been re-
ceiving counseling from
his community.
His refusal to see a
mental health professional
was likely cultural. Some-
one who needs mental
health treatment may try
to manage the illness
without the use of a psy-
chiatrist or substance
abuse specialists. While
support from one’s ethnic
and religious communities
can be helpful, it works
best when combined with
medications from a psy-
chiatrist or family doctor,
and counseling from certi-
fied substance abuse ther-
apists. You can destig-
matize mental illness with
public service announce-
ments and booths at
health fairs targeting par-
ticular communities, mak-
ing it more likely they will
seek treatment. In the
former Soviet Union,
calling somebody crazy
was a way to get rid of
people by locking them
up.
His family did call law
enforcement several
times, but he wasn’t taken
away. Often law enforce-
ment is not comfortable
with mental illness. Many
police departments re-
ceive 0 to 40 hours of
mental health training per
officer. The only thing
relatives or friends can do
is insist the patient has
threatened their lives and
that he or she be brought
to an emergency room for
an evaluation to deter-
mine whether they are a
5150 – gravely disabled or
a danger to themselves
and others.
Q:Q: What have we learned
from our large number of
Southeast Asian refugees?
A:A: History provides
insight into a patient’s
experience. We see many
Hmong that helped the
U.S. in the Vietnam War.
When the U.S. pulled out
in April of 1975, the North
Vietnamese took over and
methodically killed all
those who had helped the
Americans. Some Hmong
and Vietnamese hid in the
jungle, staying one step
ahead of the Viet Cong.
Many died in the villages
from gunshot wounds,
mortar fire or being
burned in their houses.
Those who survived living
in the jungle would often
cross the Mekong River to
Thailand. Many drowned;
those who made it spent
years in Thai refugee
camps. It’s not surprising
that many suffer from
depression and PTSD.
Some still have flashbacks
about the trauma that
they had witnessed.
Psychiatric medications
such as Citalopram and
Prazosin can help with
nightmares and flash-
backs and depression. I
believe there are many
more refugees with symp-
toms who do not come to
see a psychiatrist. Having
linkages to the community
would improve access to
the clinics, but non-
Hmong practitioners
would also benefit from
training in culturally ap-
propriate assessment to
uncover otherwise hidden
depression. We know
there are a certain number
of people who get better if
we don’t do anything but
we can’t predict who
those people are. Most
people would benefit from
treatment – medications
and therapy will help
people get better sooner
than if you don’t do any-
thing at all.
Stephen Magagnini:
916-321-1072,
@StephenMagagnini
FROM PAGE 1B
TABOO