A year after changing medical providers, Duval County jail officials reported a more than 50% decrease in the number of incarcerated people who died in the facility.
Fifteen people died in the jail in 2023, compared with seven in 2024. Causes included preexisting medical complications such as cancer and infections, pneumonia brought on by COVID-19 in one case and two overdoses, according to records obtained by The Tributary through the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office and the medical examiner.
The sheriff’s office did not return The Tributary’s request for comment, and NaphCare, the private health care provider under contract with the jail, declined to comment.
Wanda Bertram, of the Prison Policy Initiative, said that while the decrease is a positive sign, a year is not enough to determine if there is a marked decline in deaths.
“I think it would be premature to say that the Duval County jail has finally left behind the problems it experienced in previous years from privatizing health care,” she said. “Seven is still a significant number of deaths in a jail.”
In July 2023, Sheriff T.K. Waters announced his agency ended its contract with Armor Correctional Health Services after a former inmate's death. NaphCare began administering care in September 2023.
The Tributary, a nonprofit, nonpartisan newsroom investigating issues in Jacksonville, is a coverage partner of WJCT/Jacksonville Today.
