With 24 people’s deaths in county jails this year so far, the county’s death toll is running alongside the deadliest years on record.

How are people dying? Los Angeles County has not yet publicly issued causes of death for everyone who has died in county jails in recent months. And even once even once autopsy reports are finalized, they don’t tell the whole story. When the coroner rules that a death is the result of “natural causes,” jail conditions can still be to blame. Researc ...