This story needs more attention.
People should be protesting in the streets over this one.
https://www.news4jax.com/i-team/2023/05/26/records-confirm-man-did-not-receive-heart-transplant-medicine-in-duval-county-jail-he-died-days-later/
Might be the single most disturbing local story I've read all year.
Quote from: Ken_FSU on May 27, 2023, 10:43:16 AM
This story needs more attention.
People should be protesting in the streets over this one.
https://www.news4jax.com/i-team/2023/05/26/records-confirm-man-did-not-receive-heart-transplant-medicine-in-duval-county-jail-he-died-days-later/
Might be the single most disturbing local story I've read all year.
COJ will likely lose a multi-million dollar lawsuit (plus the cost of its own defense) for not supplying this medicine. Heads should roll. If the sheriff knew about it, he should resign.
Front page on Reddit.
1,200 comments.
https://www.reddit.com/r/news/comments/13u31f7/man_dies_after_going_days_in_duval_county_jail/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=ioscss&utm_content=1&utm_term=1
Getting coverage in national outlets.
Very very little local coverage.
Really, really good piece by Nate Monroe today.
https://www.jacksonville.com/story/news/columns/nate-monroe/2023/07/26/nate-monroe-would-a-new-duval-county-jail-have-the-same-old-problems/70463411007/
Excellent commentary, as usual, from Nate Monroe.
Monroe's assertion that an arrest for simple assault is "shameful and gross" detracts from an otherwise excellent point. The original story on this clearly illustrated the arresting officer made the arrest to de-escalate a potentially violent situation. While a fist-fight is far from the crime of the century, it's clearly in the public interest to dissuade them, and there's not much grey area to consider.
Corrections' failure to provide adequate care doesn't indict the arrest. Even if Barry's crime had been heinous beyond imagination, he was presumed innocent under the law when he was denied his medication.
Clearly, a new building alone does nothing to remediate inadequate inmate care. Ironically, it seems JSO was better at caring for inmates than their third party contractors.
Waters wasn't my choice for Sheriff, and I think he is/was a Curry puppet, but accountability for this mess seems like it should belong to Williams. Now, failures under the new provider, will be squarely on Waters' shoulders. Maybe he should consider bringing medical care back in-house if vendors are killing inmates at triple the rate.
If the jail is legitimately nearing end-of-life, a solution is needed regardless of whether JSO is adequately fulfilling its mission. Viewing a new jail as a "reward" or leverage over policing policy seems unwise to me.
In my opinion, the issues raised by Monroe cut more to the cultural deficiencies within JSO and less to the decision on whether a new jail is appropriate, regardless of location.
Transient in his early 60s dies in Duval County jail on a misdemeanor charge.
Blows my mind that the Sheriff has an approval rating of like 70%.
So sad, for so many reasons.
https://www.news4jax.com/news/local/2023/09/21/homeless-bail-reform-advocates-call-for-change-after-transient-in-jail-on-misdemeanor-charge-dies-in-custody/
CoJ/JSO is just begging for a class action lawsuit if these deaths keep occurring. Many decades ago I worked for SC Department of Corrections and for many years the agency was governed under a lawsuit successfully brought by an inmate (Nelson v. Leeke). The cost to comply with it was in the hundreds of millions of dollars, and that was in the '80s/early '90's. While JAX is obviously much smaller than South Carolina, losing a similar lawsuit could cost tens perhaps 100 million or more. There have also been SC counties that were required to build new jails by judicial fiat, after allowing overcrowding to get chronic. You might have to build a new jail whether you want to or have the money to pay for it.
https://www.news4jax.com/news/local/2025/04/09/the-family-demands-answers-attorney-says-inmate-is-on-ventilator-after-incident-involving-jso-jail-officers/ (https://www.news4jax.com/news/local/2025/04/09/the-family-demands-answers-attorney-says-inmate-is-on-ventilator-after-incident-involving-jso-jail-officers/)
It's pretty clear that something terrible happened here if 9 correctional officers were removed from their posts and stripped of their positions.
Maybe Duval DOGE should prioritize look into prison management, and their sheriff, before deploying that task force to audit the mayor's Panera receipts.
sandyshoes, I think you are conflating two incidents. This thread began with discussion of a JSO prisoner who died about this time in 2023 as a result of being denied his anti-rejection drugs, as a heart-transplant patient.
ken_FSU's comment on April 10 of this year is about the food truck owner who died after receiving traumatic injuries. The most recent WJXT link does not mention the heart transplant victim.
Two incidents two years apart.