Video: Santa Rita Jail deputies acknowledge 120-degree heat in cell
Bodycam: Santa Rita Jail deputy acknowledges 120-degree heat
A deputy acknowledges 120-degree heat pumped into Leonard Jones' cell, and said he told everyone in the chain in command about the problem. April 10, 2024
DUBLIN, Calif. - The longest-serving person currently being held in Santa Rita Jail custody is working toward reducing his sentence, while simultaneously fighting with the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office over what he describes as unfair treatment, including being subjected to 120-degree heat being pumped into his cell.
Leonard Jones has been held in Santa Rita Jail since 2013
Leonard Jones, now 43, has been in Alameda County’s jail since 2013, after being sentenced to 59 years in prison for shooting a 22-year-old man in the ankle in San Leandro. The man survived, and Jones was convicted of attempted murder. Thirty years of his sentence were for gun enhancements.
While Santa Rita Jail is a county jail, Jones has yet to set foot in a California prison because, while he was in custody, he was accused of three other criminal charges, which have since been dismissed.
Those charges included a 2013 murder that was investigated by a former Oakland police detective, Phong Tran, who is now facing his own criminal charges of bribery and witness tampering.
The other two cases were dismissed nearly two years ago.
Jones has been waiting all this time in Santa Rita Jail to resolve those cases before heading to state prison.
"He has been in Santa Rita for an incredibly long time," Jones' attorney, Daniel Shiro, told KTVU in an interview.
The First Court of Appeals in San Francisco ruled that Jones is owed a resentencing hearing, but that date has yet to be set. Shriro added that Jones' treatment in jail is relevant to him getting resentenced.
"For years now," Shriro said, "the sheriff's office has mistreated Mr. Jones and then gaslighted him in their responses to his grievances."
Complaints began in 2020
Bodycam: Deputy speaks with Leonard Jones about hot cell
On April 4, 2025, an Alameda County Sheriff's deputy told Leonard Jones that he called maintenance to find "some kind of a solution because there are days where it's super hot in the cell or it's super cold."
Ever since 2020, Jones has been complaining that he has been targeted by the sheriff’s office for reasons that have never been fully explained. He believes, however, it’s because he was accused of helping a deputy technician who was charged with bringing methamphetamine into the jail.
Patience Rodak, Jones’ fiancé, went even further, saying some people at the sheriff's office wrongly believed Jones had a romantic relationship with that technician, and it’s been hell for him in jail ever since.
KTVU has not uncovered any evidence that Jones has been the target of some retaliation campaign.
But according to Rodak, between 2013 and 2020, Jones was a pod worker and had no disciplinary incidents or any issues during that time.
"And after the alleged allegations of him having a romantic relationship with one of the staff, that's when they began shackling him without due process, where he was never shackled before," she said in an interview. "That's when the heat in the cell started. They were not rectifying the situation. They would basically brush it off. It’s been very retaliatory. It’s been inhumane."
She said she fell in love with Jones while he was in custody because he is "smart, brave, articulate, kind-hearted" and a family man.
The Alameda County Sheriff's Office said Jones has submitted a total of 201 grievances since 2020; six of which were heat-related.
But Shriro said the sheriff's numbers are wrong: He has evidence in that same time period of Jones filing at least 28 heat-related grievances, which were produced to him by the sheriff's office. Of those, seven were resolved, six were unfounded, eight were denied, three were closed and two were duplicative.
Jones was tired of no one believing him, so he began to collect his own evidence.
Bodycamera video produced
Bodycam: Deputy moves Leonard Jones to temporary cell
A deputy at Santa Rita Jail moves Leonard Jones to a temporary cell after he complains his room is too hot. April 1, 2025
Jones began meticulously documenting how hot his cell 6 in West Block 7D has been, and providing those dates to Shriro, who then obtained deputies' body camera from some of those instances from the sheriff's office.
KTVU reviewed that video. All the interactions and the conversations between Jones and deputies were respectful and polite on both sides. And what it showed was that certain deputies acknowledged to Jones that the temperature in his cell was excessively hot.
- On April 10, 2025, the body camera video shows a deputy telling Jones that he measured the temperature in his cell at between "118 and 120 degrees" and that he emailed several supervisors about the issue.
Deputy: "OK, 'cause I put a work order in and everybody knew. Yeah, well, the degrees were spewing out like 118, 120. Everybody’s aware. Everybody's aware.…The lieutenants, commander, captain, they're all in the thread."
- Another video on April 1, 2025, shows a deputy moving Jones from his cell to another temporary cell, as the deputy can be heard acknowledging that some cells are hotter than others.
Leonard Jones: "Man, it's suffocating in this motherf---er. I got a badass headache, and I ain't gonna lie. I'm really ready to turn this motherf---er up and start tripping, bud."
Deputy: "I'm not doing it intentional bro, it's not me doing it. It's not me doing this. How about you just hang out in the T.C. [temporary cell]? Grab whatever you gotta grab. At least it's cooler in there right now….Way cooler than your room."
- And on April 4, 2025, a deputy told Jones that he called maintenance to find "some kind of solution because there are days where it's super hot in the cell or it's super cold."
Others have complained about cell climate
What's also clear from the video is that the jail has a 1980s HVAC system, where the heat issues seem to be pervasive throughout various areas.
It's also not clear if anyone else has complained as much as Jones, or if anyone has been affected as much.
However, at KTVU's request, the sheriff's office said that the jail has received 34 other "climate" complaints since 2020, including Jones' complaints.
In addition, an email that Shriro obtained from the jail shows that Jones was once diagnosed with a heat rash, but the photo of that rash was never turned over to him.
Not only that, but Jones was even referred to mental health services because of how many times he complained about the heat, Shriro said, and the therapist found there was no issue with Jones’ mental state.
"The gaslighting is maybe the most problematic thing here," Shriro told KTVU in an interview.
A judge set to review Jones' case
Leonard Jones is moved from West Block 7 to a temporary cell following complaints of a hot cell. April 2025. Photo: Bodyworn camera
Some of Jones’ saga was made formal in court documents that will be reviewed by Alameda County Superior Court Judge Thomas Stevens on Friday.
Shriro is asking the judge to hold the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office in contempt of court for not releasing all the information that Jones and his attorney are asking for.
While he's received some video and internal documentation, Shriro said he has not been provided the documentation showing the most "egregious evidence" that he has requested.
And what they've gotten, Shriro added, is only because Jones had the foresight and organizational skills to write down the dates he discussed the heat issue with various deputies.
"The ACSO has continued to withhold some of the subpoenaed material that would most directly show the mistreatment of Mr. Jones is both systematic and intentional," Shriro wrote in a January court filing.
What Alameda County is saying
A sheriff's response saying Leonard Jones' grievances are unfounded.
In court filings, county counsel Clay Christianson told the judge that the sheriff's office intends to fully comply with the subpoena, adding that more than 5,000 pages of documents and several bodyworn camera videos have already been produced.
Last month, Christianson told a judge that Jones’ allegations are "meritless" and an "attempt to manufacture issues to reduce his sentencing."
He also noted that if Jones feels his Eighth Amendment constitutional rights of cruel and unusual punishment have been violated, he should have filed a habeas corpus motion, which he hasn’t done.
An internal memo from April 22, 2025 also gives some insight as to how Alameda County Sheriff's Deputy Robert Posedel characterized the situation to his captain.
Posedel described Jones as a maximum-security inmate who has had multiple "hazard flags," including violence and disciplinary problems, who regularly files complaints that are marked "unfounded" related to his heat situation.
He said Jones has filed 18 such grievances since 2020 to this effect, which were filed in "bad faith" and included "false statements," which created a burdensome amount of work for jail staff.
Posedel also said that deputies have offered to move Jones to a different cell, but Jones has always refused.
Documentation provided to Shriro shows that Jones has lived in at least six different cells since 2020, where he has filed complaints about the heat.
‘Safe and humane’ living conditions
"The Sheriff’s Office is responsible for the care, custody, and control of all individuals housed within our facility," according to a statement sent to KTVU in response to an inquiry on Jones' situation. "Significant improvements have been made at Santa Rita Jail to ensure safe and humane living conditions."
The sheriff's statement also emphatically stated that "any allegation that Sheriff’s Office personnel are deliberately manipulating heating conditions in Mr. Jones assigned cell is unfounded."
The thermostat system at Santa Rita Jail is centrally controlled by the Building Maintenance Division.
Deputies and facility technicians do not have the ability to control or modify the temperature settings. Only authorized maintenance personnel have access to the climate control system, the sheriff's office said, adding that the thermostat regulates temperature across an entire housing unit and cannot be adjusted for individual cells.
The sheriff's office also pointed out that many people in custody cover the air vents in their cells, which can disrupt airflow and create uneven temperature distribution.
Jail staff routinely inspect housing units and remove obstructions from vents, the sheriff's office said, but the vents are often quickly recovered.
Larger issue: Resentencing Jones' 59-year term
Leonard Jones before he was sentenced for a 2013 attempted murder. Photo: Patience Rodak
Meanwhile, there is a larger issue at hand.
Shriro is trying to reduce Jones’ original 59-year sentence after California passed a series of resentencing laws, including SB 567 in 2021, which requires courts impose sentencing judgment that does not exceed the "middle" term, unless there are aggravating circumstances. The new law also calls for the court to impose the "low" term if a defendant’s childhood trauma was a contributing factor.
Although the appellate justices in 2022 vacated Jones' original sentence and remanded the case for resentencing, that hearing has yet to be set.
When that date is scheduled, Shiro said he plans to ask the judge to release Jones for the 13 years he has already served at Santa Rita.
The District Attorney has not yet submitted paperwork on whether they think that is a reasonable request.
Shriro said his aim is to prove to a judge that Jones' treatment at Santa Rita Jail is relevant to his effort to reduce his prison sentence.
That's why he is so ardent in trying to obtain all the documents from the sheriff to see if Jones has been subjected to "cruel and unusual" punishment.
Shriro said he will ask the resentencing judge to consider all of Jones' behavior during his elongated stay at Santa Rita Jail, so that the judge can see if Jones was an "ongoing problem" or someone who was "abused by the jail."
"So the primary purpose of all of these proceedings is to get a resentencing hearing," Shriro said. "The judge must consider how Mr. Jones was doing in custody in the time between his original sentencing and the resentencing hearings. In order for us to present the relevant evidence to the court and tell his story effectively, we need the rest of the evidence that the Sheriff's Office continues to withhold."