Alarm sounded over MCSO jail safety

After spending significant resources in recent months investigating unusual circumstances surrounding prisoner deaths at the Marion County Jail, the “Ocala Gazette” has hit a roadblock – and we need your help to continue to perform this public safety service.

Nationally, an average of about 1.40 deaths occur annually per 1,000 people incarcerated in jails, according to the National Institutes of Health. Given that Marion County Jail holds an average of 1,600 to 1,700 inmates at a time, and 31 inmates have died since January 2021, the annual average of deaths in the jail is about 4.4 deaths per 1,000 incarcerated people per year, well above the national average. We have reason to believe more people have died or been seriously injured at the facility but were released from custody before they died. Compliance by the county with the federal Death in Custody Reporting Act, however, is voluntary, which leaves plenty of opportunity for case details to be obscured or ignored.

We now need the help of inmates and their families to obtain information about any medical treatments they received at the jail. We also need the public at large, and especially those working in the justice system, to understand what is at risk.

We are asking Marion County residents who have been held at the Marion County jail from Jan. 1, 2023 to present who have disabilities or who have experienced serious medical treatment issues at the jail to sign authorizations allowing our journalists to review their medical records.

Access to this information has become critically important because the Marion County Sheriff’s Office, which oversees the jail, has not produced any compliance reports for Heart of Florida Health Center, which provides medical services at the jail, since August 2024.

That was when the MCSO fired R.N. Mary Coy, the medical liaison at the jail who is also a certified Florida medical jail auditor.

The “Gazette” has reviewed extensive compliance reports by Coy, who spent years sounding an alarm about medical neglect and disregard for Florida jail model standards. Coy said MCSO and HOF policies were causing unnecessary suffering for the mentally ill, the disabled, and those who were facing life-threatening medical challenges behind bars.

“I now work with a team of practitioners, leaders that despite documentation/reports coming from inmates, security and myself, there is little to nothing done about issues of grave concern,” Coy wrote in a 2022 memo to her superiors.

“I am not allowed to function in the role that I was hired for and my voice on behalf of the inmates is no longer being heard. I have taken my concerns to the top security and medical in the jail many times. Many of the caring Heart of Florida Practitioners left but before leaving tried to make positive changes. Some of the reports I have written and things of denial of care I have read in documentation have brought me to tears many times on the job and at home. I am seen as the ‘bad guy’ for trying to help human beings receive basic humane treatment. I have read in documentation many horrific things that I have reported and outlined in detail.”

The MCSO points to annual jail audits they’ve passed without any criticism. Those audits, however, are conducted by MCSO allies chosen by MCSO from other law enforcement agencies and are not reviewed by a higher government agency.

MCSO says it now contracts with Meagan Taylor of Taylor Correctional Consulting, an entity formed in 2023 and located in North Port, Florida. According to the MCSO, since being contracted, Taylor has sent only one email this year to Major Charles McIntosh, who oversees the jail, and that was to schedule a meeting.

The “Gazette” has repeatedly asked Mcintosh for any public records that would show the MCSO is monitoring HOF compliance with Florida Model Medical Jail Standards. He has responded via email that there were no public records being created about the subject. He added that corrections deputies ensure inmates are getting necessary medical attention.

The “Gazette,” however, has records from 2021 to the present that reflect that Sheriff Billy Woods and top MCSO management were made aware repeatedly that a combination of negligent medical care and use of force was causing unwarranted inmate pain and suffering and sometimes leading to death.

We will provide the records to any attorneys who are exploring whether to take a case representing inmates or their families in federal claims under U.S. Code § 1983 – Civil action for deprivation of rights.

HOF charges MCSO for medical malpractice insurance. Since the policy is paid for by taxpayers, the “Gazette” has asked for the policy but has not received the information.

HOF is the only medical facility in Marion County that receives federal funding, but more than half of its funding comes from managing Marion County and Sumter County jails, which are also paid by taxpayers.

Additionally, the HOF has received millions of dollars in funding from the Marion County Hospital District over the past decade for the support of treating uninsured Marion County residents.

MCSO’s annual contract with HOF is more than $12 million and includes HOF paying for any specialty and hospital care for inmates. This creates a nexus whereby HOF has financial interests in delaying inmate care under the contract.

Any attorneys, employees of MCSO or HOF, inmates or next of kin willing to share information or receive more information may contact the Gazette at 352-732-0073 and by email to [email protected].