A 68-year-old man arrested on a misdemeanor charge of trespassing became the 12th person to die this year in the Duval County jail’s custody.
David H. Given had been awaiting trial on the misdemeanor charge when he was found unresponsive in his jail cell. He was last seen moving around his cell before 10 a.m. on Sept. 18. Just before noon, while doing medication rounds, an employee saw Given lying partially under his bunk, according to the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office.
Corrections officers and medical staff began live-saving measures before Given was pronounced dead at the jail by the Jacksonville Fire and Rescue Department, according to a Sheriff’s Office release.
Given was arrested after allegedly trespassing at a nearby hospital where he had complained about hip pain but had refused medical assistance, according to his arrest report.
Hours before JSO announced the death, Sheriff T.K. Waters said on WJCT’s morning show, First Coast Connect, that people arrested on misdemeanor charges “don’t spend any time in jail.”
“Most of our jail is filled with individuals who are in there for pretty serious crimes,” he said. “Those that are involved in smaller cases either” receive a Notice to Appear in court without getting arrested “or they get released the next day, so misdemeanants don’t stay in jail very long at all, if they even end up being there.”
Given was in the jail for 13 days.
So far this year, 12 people have died in Duval County jail, marking the fourth year in a row the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office has seen double-digit deaths at the jail under a private medical provider.
This is the first death recorded under the care of the jail’s new medical provider, NaphCare, which took over from Armor Correctional Health Services on Sept. 1.
No information about what caused Given’s death has been released, but the Sheriff’s Office confirmed no foul play was suspected. JSO’s Cold Case Unit will investigate his death.
The Tributary previously found that deaths in the Duval County jail tripled since Armor Correctional Health Services started handling health care – with about four deaths per year from 2012 to 2017 when health care was handled in-house to about 13 deaths per year since 2018.
After The Tributary published its findings, JSO announced its $98 million contract with the company will end four years early, on Aug. 30.
NaphCare has a reputation for poor treatment of inmates that largely mirrors Armor’s, with hundreds of federal lawsuits against it.
The contract awards NaphCare $110 million over five years.
READ: Jacksonville’s jail death rate tripled after privatizing medical care