A man who was denied medical care for 12 hours after being assaulted in a Riverside County jail required two emergency surgeries when finally taken to the hospital, to treat a severe infection and remove an organ, according to a recently filed lawsuit.

The children of a man who died last year after spending a month in Riverside County Sheriff’s Department custody sued Sheriff Chad Bianco and his staff, claiming he was not provided with timely emergency medical treatment.

A test took place July 29 in downtown Riverside.

It didn’t involve pens, paper or classrooms. Instead, the test at the daylong Riverside County Board of Supervisors meeting measured the Riverside Sheriffs’ Association’s influence.

In the end, the union representing thousands of sheriff’s deputies won. Three supervisors — Supervisor Yxstian Gutierrez left the meeting early — declined to advance Supervisor Jose Medina’s plan for greater oversight of the county Sheriff’s Department.

For frustrated criminal justice reform advocates, the supervisors’ actions, or lack thereof, prove money — specifically, what’s spent by the union on campaign donations to supervisors — speaks louder than the will of the people.

A scathing report released this week revealed that the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department cleared only 9.2% of its violent crimes and property offenses during Sheriff Chad Bianco’s first six years in office, ranking the agency’s clearance rate last among 57 California sheriffs.