JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — New details are known surrounding the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office opting to terminate its contract with the Duval County jail's health care provider on Tuesday.
Sheriff T.K. Waters said Tuesday, that he has ended the contract with Armor Correctional Health Services and agreed to a new contract with NaphCare.
The announcement came hours after reporting by The Tributary showed jail deaths tripled after Armor Health took over as the jail’s health care provider in 2017.
According to new info from the Tributary, a national agency warned the sheriff's office about its medical care in which inmates were receiving at the jail three months ago.
In April, the Duval County jail was placed on probation.
The Tributary article says NaphCare has a reputation for poor treatment of inmates that largely mirrors Armor's. A notable lawsuit on NaphCare is pinned to a man's death in a Virginia jail in 2015 that ended in a $3 million settlement for the family.
Waters said Tuesday, he's been looking at making the change for quite some time but, wanted to make it official until after Mayor Donna Deegan was sworn into office.
"I've been looking at this since November [2022], JSO is a big place with a lot of different working parts and moving parts so I'm looking at this for a long time now and how we were going to address this moving forward," Waters said Tuesday.
A spokesperson for JSO confirmed with First Coast News on Wednesday that the jail is still under probation.
Waters said the contract with NaphCare will start Sept. 1. He adds that it's a 5-year deal worth about $110 million.
