The Duval County jail. | Andrew Pantazi, The Tributary
Published on February 24, 2025 at 10:44 am
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The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office spent the past year bolstering its medical care in the Duval County jail after it received blistering criticism for the number of deaths reported at the facility, conditions that prompted one national accrediting agency to place the jail on probation.
The National Commission on Correctional Health Care lifted the probationary status of the John E. Goode Pretrial Detention Facility in June, according to documents The Tributary received in a public records request.
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The documents shed light on efforts the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office has not publicized to improve conditions in the aging jail. The Sheriff’s Office did not return the Tributary’s requests for an interview.
The accrediting agency placed the jail on probation in April 2023 after the agency discovered a slew of defects, including a history of delays in getting inmates medications and general medical care, a high number of health care-related grievances from inmates, a pattern of delay in providing timely medical and dental care, a delay in verifying prescriptions, delays in ordering prescriptions and delays in completing required health assessments within 14 days.
The commission also deemed the Sheriff’s Office’s review of jail deaths to be inadequate.
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The Sheriff’s Office’s work correcting those problems has led to the addition of 14 medical staff members to the downtown jail, according to the review by the accrediting organization.
Five months after the probation was placed, and soon after The Tributary reported that deaths tripled after the Sheriff’s Office signed a contract with Armor Correctional Health Services, a private jail health care provider, Sheriff T.K. Waters ended that contract and signed a more expensive contract with another private company, NaphCare.
The Tributary found jail deaths decreased by 50% in the year after the Sheriff’s Office inked the new NaphCare contract. The Tributary asked the agency in November what changes had been made within the facility to improve medical conditions there and did not receive a response.
But copies of the jail’s 2024 inspection reports, turned over to The Tributary in response to a records request filed last month, provided insight into what the Sheriff’s Office and NaphCare have been doing behind the walls of the troubled facility to fix the numerous problems with inmate care.
Those reports included a review of the jail by the National Commission on Correctional Health Care in June 2024, which concluded the jail was 100% in compliance with its accrediting standards, a stark change from its past findings.
A separate review by the Florida Corrections Accreditation Commission found the jail met high standards, and a third accrediting agency found no deficiencies in its operations last year
The reports reveal that NaphCare increased the jail’s medical staff by 14 full-time employees, which includes the addition of physicians, an assistant health services administrator, administrative assistant, physician, mid-level providers, RNs, LPNs, and assistant mental health director. Two correctional officers were also assigned to the medical clinic to escort inmates to and from appointments.
The Sheriff’s Office has previously said the higher cost of the new contract was in part to grow its medical staff, though none of the reports offered a breakdown of the additional staffing costs.
The booking area is now staffed at all hours by a mid-level medical professional who addresses immediate needs for those entering the jail, and assists those with chronic conditions or special needs. A full-time position was added to make sure there is also a nurse in the same area day and night.
NaphCare also added three medication carts and three roaming nurses.
This story is published through a partnership between Jacksonville Today and The Tributary.
