Did Duval County jail’s healthcare contractor lie before signing $98M deal with city? It’s under investigation

Oct 03, 2023

Anne Maxwell, I-TEAM and general assignment reporter

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Miami-area executives for the embattled healthcare contractor at the Duval County jail donated thousands to the campaign of T.K. Waters just days before he was elected sheriff.

The contractor, Armor Correctional Health Services, has been accused of misrepresenting its past criminal convictions and denying a local inmate lifesaving medication that led to his death.

Records reviewed by the I-TEAM revealed the Armor executives donated at least $7,000 to Waters’ campaign for sheriff five days before he was elected in November.

Two days before those donations were made, the company signed a lucrative new five-year deal with JSO worth $98 million.

RELATED: COJ signed $98 million contract with Duval jail healthcare provider previously convicted in Wisconsin inmate death

And just a few weeks before that, Armor was convicted in Wisconsin of neglecting an inmate and altering healthcare records to cover it up.

Armor's 2022 contract with JSO, signed after their convictions, stated the company's owners, partners and employees did not have any pending criminal charges or felony convictions when that was demonstrably false.

"If it is true, the Sheriff is disappointed. This is being investigated at this time," a JSO spokesman told News4JAX.

The city's attorneys are now looking into the contract with Armor and the state's Department of Management Services is also investigating the company.

"Florida law requires vendors to notify DMS when they have been convicted of a public entity crime. Armor Correctional Healthcare failed to do so," a DMS spokesperson told News4JAX in a statement.

A JSO spokesperson noted Armor's current contract was signed under the previous administration and that the sheriff received donations from hundreds of people. Armor said individual employee donations are their decision and not a company matter.

The daughter of a man who died after not receiving his essential medication in the Duval County jail is now calling for the JSO to cut ties with the healthcare contractor.

MORE: Records confirm man did not receive heart transplant medicine in Duval County Jail. He died days later

"Find someone who is not in it for the money and actually in it to be taking care of the people that they’re responsible for," said Janelle King.

Her father, Dexter Barry, died a few days after he was booked into the jail on a charge of simple battery. He was accused of verbally threatening his neighbor.

Records obtained by the attorney for Barry's family show jail staff knew Barry required the medication but they never gave it to him.

"Our initial investigation of the clinical care received by the detainee while in custody at the jail has found that our clinicians followed protocol and delivered quality medical care. HIPAA laws prevent us from releasing any further information," a spokesperson for Armor said in a statement.

MORE: Duval jail healthcare provider accused after death of former inmate says it ‘delivered quality medical care’

"That's absolutely appalling," King said Monday in response to the statement. "Because if you guys did your job, my dad would still be here...Everything is all about money, like my brother and I have been saying from the jump, and yeah, it's appalling. They should not be in business at all."

If the state puts Armor on its list of convicted vendors, the company could be barred from doing government business in Florida for three years.

In a statement, Armor's chief operating officer said the judgment against the company in Wisconsin wasn't entered until Nov. 17 after its Jacksonville contract was signed. Court records, though, do show the jury found the company guilty on Oct. 11, weeks before their most recent contract in Jacksonville was executed.

Armor is appealing its convictions, and the COO said it's their understanding that they don't have to disclose their convictions until after the appeals process is completed.

However, state law requires a public entity conviction to be reported within 30 days including a conviction in a state trial court as a result of a jury verdict, like in Armor's criminal cases in Wisconsin.

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