SANTEE — Civil rights activists asked families of inmates who died in custody to testify at a hearing Wednesday where state legislators will consider whether to investigate deaths in San Diego County jails. At a news conference Tuesday, hosted jointly by the North County Equity & Justice Coalition and the Racial Justice Coalition of San Diego, activists called for accountability and transparency from the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department, which runs seven jails in the area. A Union-Tribune investigation in 2019 found that during a 10-year span, starting in 2009 when Bill Gore became sheriff, at least 140 people had died in county custody, making San Diego County’s jail mortality rate by far the highest among large counties in the state.