JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Jacksonville Sheriff T.K. Waters and Mayor Donna Deegan held a news conference on Tuesday evening to announce the end of a $98 million contract with Armor Correctional Health Services, which administers healthcare to inmates at the Duval County jail.
Waters said the jail will make the switch to NaphCare, another private medical provider. The new contract is for five years and $110 million, Waters said.
The announcement comes weeks after reporting from News4JAX and nonprofit news outlet The Tributary found that the company is under state investigation for allegedly failing to report past criminal convictions against the company, which is required by Federal law.
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News4JAX has reported extensively on the death of Dexter Barry, 54, who died after spending a few days in jail in November. He was charged with verbally threatening his neighbor.
Barry had a heart transplant that required daily medication to keep his body from rejecting it, but records show he never got his medicine at the jail. Barry died a few days after being released.
Records also reveal jailers knew about the prescription, which was required to keep his body from rejecting his heart transplant.
Attorney Andrew Bonderud, who represents Barry’s family, said he waited five months for the public records he requested from JSO that prove Barry never got his medication in jail. He said the records were released to him the morning after the I-TEAM’s initial story on Barry was published.
“I think, tragically, it took Dexter Barry dying, not in the Duval County jail, but as a result of the services or lack thereof, lack of health care that he received at the Duval County Jail for this change to come about. But it’s a tribute to Dexter Barry,” Bonderud said on Tuesday.
Armor first started providing healthcare at the Duval County jail in 2017. The Tributary reported that the jail death rate tripled after it privatized medical care with Armor.
After the announcement, News4JAX spoke with people off-camera who were being released from the jail.
Everyone said the people are great but it just takes them a long time to get their medicine.
One woman said she had to wait all night before she got her insulin the next morning after she told the guards she needed it.
Bonderud said Barry’s family will be watching to make sure the sheriff holds his word.
“We will be watching for follow through because it’s not talk, that’s gonna make a difference. It’s the follow through. It’s the accountability and being responsible for the obligations that the sheriff’s office has for the people who are in his custody,” Bonderud said. “I hope that this new company won’t cut corners like Armor did, and that if the company does cut corners, they will be held accountable.”
JSO will no longer pay Armor and its contract will end on Aug. 31. NaphCare will take over on Sept. 1.