Story highlights The Democratic candidate weighs in on the case of woman who died in police custody

Sanders has recently been stepping up his efforts to attract African-American support

Washington (CNN) Bernie Sanders said late Monday that Sandra Bland wouldn't have died in police custody "if she were a white woman."

"There's no doubt in my mind that she, like too many African-Americans who die in police custody, would be alive today if she were a white woman," Sanders said in a statement issued shortly after a grand jury announced Monday that it would not issue any indictments

Bland, a 28-year-old African-American woman, died in police custody in Texas after being held for three days after allegedly failing to use her turn signal last summer.

Sanders recently has upped his efforts to win over black voters, who are strongly behind Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton. He toured the site of Freddie Gray's arrest in Baltimore earlier this month and appeared with rapper Killer Mike at a rally in Atlanta last month.