Medicaid’s Overlooked Role in Reversing the Unintended Consequences of Deinstitutionalization, Jail-Based Mental Health Care

Highlighted Stories

Editor's Note

This week’s Editor’s Note weaves together three powerful and disturbing topics: a New Yorker piece chronicling the starvation death of a woman in the Pima County Jail and a related website documenting other deaths by dehydration or starvation; a NACo article announcing two bipartisan bills introduced in Congress to end the Medicaid Inmate Exclusion Policy (MIEP); and new developments in the Wellpath bankruptcy, where a proposed settlement has been reached with junior creditors—many of whom are individuals allegedly harmed by deficient medical care behind bars—with a related follow-up concerning Tehum Care/YesCare/Corizon.

Together, these stories point to a shared conclusion: the urgent need for a more unified and accountable approach to healthcare in correctional settings—something Medicaid is uniquely positioned to provide.

The New Yorker article focuses on a deeply personal tragedy: a woman with serious mental illness who died of starvation while detained in the Pima County Jail. From COCHS' perspective, this case is especially resonant. In 2014, we highlighted Pima County’s Justice-Health Information Data Exchange (also known as the Pima County, AZ Justice-Health Integration Project), a model system created to identify individuals with behavioral health issues at intake and divert them to appropriate care. That data exchange was possible because Arizona Medicaid had centralized its behavioral health information into a single system. However, when Arizona restructured its Medicaid system and dispersed behavioral health data across multiple platforms, the usefulness of the exchange diminished. This illustrates how fragile healthcare initiatives in correctional settings can be—dependent on stable infrastructure, leadership, and continuity that can easily be disrupted.

We have seen this before. In 2007, Santa Cruz County's jail was once connected to a health information exchange, but when the county issued a new RFP for correctional healthcare services, maintaining the HIE was omitted. The new provider, California Forensic Medical Group (CFMG)—later absorbed into Wellpath—did not preserve the connection. The broader issue is structural: jails were never intended to function as mental health facilities, yet they have increasingly been forced into that role. As the New Yorker piece and many others have pointed out, this shift began in the 1960s with the Kennedy administration’s push for deinstitutionalization. While the vision was for community-based clinics to replace institutions, the necessary funding never fully materialized. In the wake of Estelle v. Gamble, which deemed deliberate indifference to incarcerated individuals’ medical needs a violation of the Eighth Amendment, counties were left to manage a rising tide of behavioral health needs with limited resources.

Our concern with the New Yorker article is not its investigative rigor or compassion, but with what might be an implied sense that this is a newly discovered crisis. It is not. Counties have long recognized these challenges. That is why NACo is now celebrating the introduction of two bills to end the MIEP. Like our partners at NACo, COCHS has long championed the idea of bringing Medicaid behind the walls of jails and prisons. Medicaid expansion made this goal more achievable. Incarcerated individuals who are Medicaid beneficiaries would have the same rights to care as any other Medicaid patient, including access to independent grievance procedures and due process protections.

With the implementation of 1115 waivers and HRSA’s PIN 2024-05—which allows Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs) to provide certain services to the incarcerated—tragedies like the one in Pima County could potentially be avoided. Systems are finally beginning to align. However, looming over this progress is a familiar and sobering threat: congressional action on Medicaid funding.

Many states that expanded Medicaid built trigger clauses into their laws—automatic termination if the federal match rate drops below 90%. Should that happen, 1115 waivers would be severely compromised, and counties would again be forced to serve as the healthcare provider of last resort. Once more, many would have little choice but to rely on proprietary correctional healthcare companies like those cited in the New Yorker article: Wellpath, YesCare, NaphCare, Armour, and others.

Which brings us back to Wellpath. A bankruptcy court may soon approve a settlement with junior creditors, including individuals who suffered harm under Wellpath’s care. While this may offer limited financial redress, it does not solve the systemic problem: reliance on for-profit healthcare providers in an environment of minimal oversight. We are seeing similar patterns play out with the Tehum Care bankruptcy as well.

If Medicaid funding is cut and 1115 waivers are weakened, we risk cementing a healthcare quagmire inside our jails and prisons—one that will continue to produce suffering, tragedy, and endless litigation.

Starvation & Death

This article tells the story of Mary, who was so malnourished when a judge released her from Pima County Jail that she had to enter hospice care. Her death has led to further investigation into the proprietary correctional healthcare industry. The reporter, Sarah Stillman, writes: I studied more than forty lawsuits involving claims of starvation, dehydration, and severe neglect, filed against more than a dozen correctional entities and county governments. We found that ... taxpayers ended up paying multimillion-dollar settlement bills ... that killed off members of their own communities... Three of the largest correctional-health-care corporations—Corizon (now YesCare), Armor, and Wellpath—have filed for bankruptcy in recent years. Wellpath, which filed this past November, has been hit with more than fifteen hundred lawsuits claiming inadequate medical care of incarcerated people. “A big part of this industry’s business model is filing for bankruptcy, cleansing their balance sheet of responsibility for their misconduct, and then starting all over again,” Bianca Tylek, the executive director of Worth Rises, ... told me. I asked Tylek ... who has studied hundreds of correctional-health-care contracts, if she thought the industry was lucrative. “It’s only lucrative because the industry is based on stealing,” she said. “They’re stealing billions of taxpayer dollars and not providing constitutionally required services to the people in their care...”

“Starved for Care” offers a personal introduction to more than two dozen people who died of causes tied to starvation, dehydration or neglect that occurred in U.S. jails. These stories are drawn from allegations made in legal filings, court opinions, autopsies, independent investigations and interviews with the loved ones of the deceased.

Medicaid Inmate Exclusion Policy

Two bipartisan bills aimed at addressing the Medicaid Inmate Exclusion Policy (MIEP) were recently reintroduced in the U.S. House of Representatives. On April 1, lawmakers reintroduced the Reentry Act (H.R.2586), following the reintroduction of the Due Process Continuity of Care Act (H.R. 1510) earlier this year. Both bills seek to improve health care access for justice-involved individuals. These pieces of legislation each amend the MIEP, a federal statute that revokes access to federal health benefits upon arrest, by ensuring continuity of care through improved access to critical health services for individuals as they enter and exit the justice system.

Bankruptcies: Wellpath & Tehum Care/YesCare/Corizon

Prison health company Wellpath announced a settlement with its junior creditors, including people that had sued the company for allegedly providing substandard medical care, removing a major obstacle to the company’s exit from Chapter 11. The settlement will provide $15.5 million to junior creditors, give them a 33.3% equity stake in the reorganized company and provide other benefits. Many of the company's junior creditors have litigation claims against Wellpath, which faced more than 1,500 lawsuits alleging that the company provided deficient medical care to prisoners. Other junior creditors include medical vendors who provided supplies, drugs or services to Wellpath. With the junior creditors’ support, Wellpath will seek approval of its bankruptcy restructuring, which it says will significantly reduce the company’s debt, at an April 30 hearing. Wellpath’s owner, HIG Capital, will fund part of the cash contribution, paying $3 million toward the junior creditor settlement.

In a first-of-its-kind Chapter 11 case, attorney Eric Goodman crafted a plan letting tort claimants opt out of Tehum Care Services’ bankruptcy settlement and pursue civil lawsuits — a major break from typical Texas two-step bankruptcies. Tehum, a Corizon Health spinoff, filed for bankruptcy in February 2023 after Corizon split liabilities into Tehum and assets into CHS Texas, later sold to YesCare. Judge Christopher Lopez confirmed the plan in March 2024; only 12 of 300+ claimants opted out, validating Goodman’s “market test” strategy. Although critics called Tehum’s filing a bad-faith maneuver, Goodman and the tort claimants committee prioritized jury trial rights over contesting the divisional merger. Northwestern law professor Bruce Markell noted potential legal challenges, including unequal treatment of claimants based on opt-out choices.

Follow Ups

Editor's Comment: This week’s Follow Ups overlap with the Editor’s Note regarding Wellpath’s bankruptcy. Two articles offer more detail on the fallout: an EMS provider in Michigan is asking the state to cover unpaid bills left by Wellpath, and the family of a deceased man alleges that Wellpath deliberately delayed settlement payments to seek bankruptcy protection.

Fallout also continues from the New York State wildcat strike. The state is working to address rising violence following the beating death of an incarcerated man by correctional officers. In a separate incident, two officers have been charged in another death, and a correctional officer who failed to return after the strike claims he was unjustly fired while on medical leave.

Finally, Oregon is attempting to tackle long-standing healthcare dysfunction in its prison system. A new chief medical officer has been appointed, and a private consulting firm, Falcon Correctional and Community Services, has been brought in to recommend reforms.

Wellpath

Russell Adams, Executive Director of Lapeer County EMS, writes: For two years, local EMS agencies across Michigan have been requesting payment for lifesaving services provided to inmates, yet Wellpath—the state’s contracted corrections health provider—has failed to pay. This ongoing nonpayment has placed a heavy financial strain on EMS agencies and the communities they serve. In Lapeer County alone, Wellpath owes nearly $140,000; statewide, the total is close to $6 million. EMS services are legally required to respond to emergencies regardless of ability to pay, meaning the state remains responsible when contractors default. Last week, HB 4249 was introduced with bipartisan support to authorize the state to pay these overdue bills. We urge legislators to fast-track this bill before community emergency care is compromised.

A Colorado Springs family suing Wellpath, El Paso County's former jail health care provider, over the death of a 48-year-old family member who accused the company of gamesmanship through the courts to delay payment until the company had protection through bankruptcy filings. During court proceedings, attorneys for Canett's family alleged Wellpath withheld documents from the plaintiff, switched out attorneys right before evidence deadlines, and more. “Here, Wellpath’s goal appears to have been to delay the conclusion of the case to avoid financial responsibility," the motion for sanctions filed by Canett’s family’s attorneys said. “The discovery process cannot become a playground for one party to experiment with procedural gamesmanship to push off merits-adjudication into the distant future. Such damaging bad faith conduct appears to be the norm for this particular defendant around the country.”

Wildcat Strike (New York)

State prison leader Daniel Martuscello "vowed" to ensure violence did not become normalized within the New York State Department of Corrections & Community Supervision (DOCCS) after prosecutors said 10 officers beat an inmate to death in Marcy Correctional Facility in December 2024. Three months later, right across the street from Marcy at Mid-State Correctional Facility, prosecutors said that horror story repeated itself in the alleged murder of Messiah Nantwi. Former and current inmates as well as independent advocacy groups and watchdogs who argue that DOCCS has ignored claims of violence and, at worst, actively supported abusive corrections officers. During the illegal wildcat strikes that lasted about three weeks, officers claimed they were the victims of violent inmates. Those same officers are in control of incident reports and rarely, if ever, face legal repercussions when an inmate alleges abuse.

Two corrections officers were charged with second-degree murder and eight others with related offenses in the killing of a man who inmates said was savagely beaten to death by guards last month at a prison in central New York. The man, 22-year-old Messiah Nantwi, died March 1 after he was beaten at the Mid-State Correctional Facility in Marcy, N.Y., near Utica. Mr. Nantwi, other inmates said, was bloodied, swollen and unrecognizable after the beating. Mr. Nantwi’s death came amid a deepening crisis in the state prison system. Thousands of corrections officers in most of New York’s 42 prisons had left their assigned posts in protest of what they said were hazardous working conditions, taking part in a series of wildcat strikes that lasted three weeks.

One of nearly 2,000 New York correctional officers fired after this year’s illegal three-week strike claims he was wrongfully terminated. Blake North, a former sergeant at Altona Correctional Facility who also worked at Moriah Shock, Greenhaven, and Sing Sing, says he had notified his supervisor about his medical condition and was warned: “If you do not come to work, you are on strike.” North says his doctor advised him he was at risk of a stroke or heart attack, and he submitted medical documentation as required. He maintains he was on approved sick leave during the strike and did not participate in it.

Oregon

The Oregon Department of Corrections has revamped the long-standing, powerful panels that determined whether prisoners received off-site specialty medical care, according to Dr. Michael Seale, the agency’s new chief medical officer. Seale replaced Dr. Warren Roberts, who was fired last year after an external review raised concerns about his leadership and oversight of the department’s 600+ medical staff. Previously, requests for non-emergency surgery, specialist visits, or advanced imaging were reviewed by a committee functioning like an insurance panel. Falcon Correctional and Community Services is currently reviewing the prison health system and is expected to issue recommendations this summer.

Opioid Epidemic

The opioid overdose reversal medications, Narcan, saves hundreds of thousands of lives a year and is routinely praised by public health experts for contributing to the continuing drop in opioid-related deaths. But the Trump administration plans to terminate a $56 million annual grant program that distributes doses and trains emergency responders in communities to administer them, according to a draft budget proposal. The grant is among many addiction prevention and treatment programs to be zeroed out.

The Justice Department has abruptly canceled hundreds of grants to community organizations and local governments, including funding for gun-violence prevention programs and crime-victim advocacy — cuts Attorney General Pam Bondi defended Wednesday as the elimination of millions of dollars in “wasteful” spending. The canceled awards were identified through a review process that determined they did not align with the Trump administration’s priorities.

As Republicans pursue spending cuts, critics warn Medicaid funding for opioid addiction treatment is at risk. A Democratic report notes care for over a million Americans could be affected. Medicaid, expanded under the ACA, has become the main source for addiction treatment, credited with helping reduce overdose deaths by 26.6% between June 2023 and October 2024, according to CDC data.

Massachusetts passed legislation in 2018 to mandate provision of medications for opioid use disorder (MOUD) in select jails to address the high risk of opioid overdose after release. This report is a Type-1 hybrid effectiveness-implementation study of the program. Participants perceived that MOUD helped to prevent relapse. Prompt and consistent access to medication, and respectful treatment by healthcare and carceral staff were highlighted as facilitators. In contrast, some participants perceived that policy-centered rather than patient-centered treatment drove timing of medication initiation or response to medication changes.

Amid a national overdose crisis that kills nearly 110,000 people annually, Washington prisons now require all applicants for early release through the Graduated Reentry (GRE) program to undergo substance use evaluations and complete any mandated treatment—even if they have no history of drug use. In 2023, the legislature passed SB 5502, responding to the opioid epidemic by imposing universal screening. The mandate applies even to those who have never used drugs. American Behavioral Health Services (ABHS), a private contractor, handles the assessments. One woman, with no history of addiction, reported having to fabricate stories of drug use to move through the program.

A recent study published in Nature Medicine demonstrated that an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven screening tool was just as effective as a healthcare provider-only approach in identifying hospitalized adults at risk for opioid use disorder (OUD). The research found that the AI screening significantly reduced hospital readmissions and assisted in the referral of patients to inpatient addiction specialists. Supported by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the study found that patients screened using the AI tool had 47% lower odds of being readmitted within 30 days compared to those who received traditional provider-initiated consultations.

In March, FORE held a national webinar focused on Medicaid’s Ongoing Critical Role in the U.S. Response to the Opioid and Overdose Crisis. A recording of the webinar is available on FORE's website.

Mental Health & Incarceration

In an op-ed Raya Elfadel Kheirbek, M.D writes: As a palliative care physician, I ease suffering and guide families through their darkest hours. The circumstances are often fraught with profound challenges and heartbreaks, but some encounters cut through even the most practiced routines, leaving me grappling for words. Meeting Ian last year was one such moment. Ian, a 28-year-old who suffered from mental illness, was lying unconscious in a hospital bed, his wrists shackled, while armed guards stood at the door. Life-support machines hummed in the sterile silence. Ian had suffered a life-threatening brain injury after a violent altercation with other inmates in jail. Found unresponsive and with his head pressed against the concrete floor of his cell, he was now caught between life and death – the tragic consequence of systems that had failed him at every turn.

In 2024, people in Indiana jails waited just over two months on average for court-ordered mental health evaluations—an improvement from seven months in 2018, according to state judicial data. Still, many with serious mental illness spend weeks or months untreated, worsening their conditions. Referrals for competency restoration have surged from 123 in 2013 to 615 in 2024, amid a persistent shortage of mental health professionals.

Patient satisfaction is a key metric in mental health care but is rarely studied in correctional settings. A review of 46 studies found a median sample size of 37.5 (range: 4–1150) and wide variation in measurement tools. Most tools were designed for non-correctional settings and used without adaptation; only 10 studies used validated measures. Overall, patient satisfaction assessment in correctional mental health care remains inconsistent and largely unvalidated.

Homelessness

Homelessness in Skid Row and San Francisco’s Tenderloin has long defined California’s crisis, but the fiercest battles over encampments are now elsewhere. In San Jose, Mayor Matt Mahan recently proposed arresting homeless individuals after three shelter refusals—a rare move for the liberal Bay Area but one gaining support. While opposition remains, frustration with homelessness is pushing Silicon Valley voters toward proposals once seen as too conservative for these deep-blue cities.

A year of data from Sacramento County shows one-third of jail entrants are homeless. Incarcerating homeless individuals is costly: the Sheriff’s Office estimates it spends $199.73 daily per inmate, excluding medical or transport costs. Even a 24-hour stay per booking could cost over $2.1 million annually. Meanwhile, arrests over illegal camping have increased since the U.S. Supreme Court ruled such enforcement legal in June 2024.

A Southern California mayor said he wants to give his city’s homeless population “all the fentanyl they want” and later called for a federal “purge.” In a February city council meeting, Lancaster Mayor R. Rex Parris responded to a resident’s concern about the city’s handling of its homeless population by saying: “What I want to do is give them free fentanyl... I mean, that’s what I want to do. I want to give them all the fentanyl they want.”

Women

This report presents preliminary findings from a study documenting pregnancy-related criminal charges in the year following Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization (June 24, 2022–June 23, 2023). The research, approved by the University of Tennessee-Knoxville’s IRB, will continue over the coming years. In the first year post-Dobbs, at least 210 pregnant individuals faced criminal charges related to pregnancy, pregnancy loss, or birth. This trend is not new; Pregnancy Justice and others previously documented over 1,800 such cases from 1973 to 2022.

Pinebrook Family Answers, a community-based organization in Allentown, Pennsylvania, runs Leaving Jail: A Trauma-Informed Reentry Program for Women across Carbon, Lehigh, and Northampton Counties. The program supports incarcerated women 18 and older—assessed at medium to high risk of recidivism—addressing barriers like substance dependency and trauma. From fall 2023 through February 2024, it served 75 women, aiming to reach 150 during the current grant period.Women, Reentry, Allentown, Pennsylvania

A new California budget proposal would add 22 positions to the Office of the Inspector General to enhance oversight of inmate complaints and CDCR’s investigatory process. However, the added staff would allow monitoring of only about 350 of the 2,400 annual staff sexual misconduct and assault claims. Some lawmakers find that inadequate. “Why aren’t we addressing 100% of those grievances and complaints?” asked Assemblymember Mia Bonta, D-Oakland, at a budget hearing. During testimony, including from abuse survivors, legislators expressed continued mistrust of CDCR and pushed for broader monitoring by the inspector general’s office.

A public health crisis has been ongoing for years inside New Mexico’s women’s correctional facilities. Incarcerated women are being fed food contaminated with feces, leading to widespread infection with Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori), a bacterium that attacks the stomach lining. At Western New Mexico Correctional Facility, reports suggest over half of the 400 women housed there have contracted the infection, putting them at risk of severe, permanent harm—or death. The consequences will not stop at the prison walls.

The cause of death of a woman at Taycheedah Correctional Institution in February has been ruled as probable bacterial pneumonia, according to a medical examiner’s determination. According to the autopsy report, another prisoner was also transported to the hospital the same day and later died, testing positive for the same bacterial infection and Influenza A. At the time, the women's prison located just outside of Fond du Lac was experiencing an outbreak of respiratory illnesses, according to the state Department of Corrections.

Aging

A growing body of research has documented an association between prior incarceration and lower dental care use, yet the longitudinal impact of prior incarceration on dental care patterns over time among older adults remains unexplored. This study aims to investigate whether prior incarceration is associated with differing trajectories of dental care use among older adults in the United States.

Prisoner On Prisoner Violence

As two cellmates were fighting in a Riverside County, Calif., jail, an inexperienced guard remotely opened the cell door, a violation of safety protocols. One of the men immediately pulled out the other, hoisted him over his shoulder and threw him over a catwalk railing. He fell 15 feet before smashing into a metal table. It was his first day in the jail and his last day of life.

An Arizona Senate committee is investigating the state corrections department after inmate Ricky Wassenaar, serving multiple life sentences, allegedly killed three men on April 4. Senate Public Safety Committee Chair Kevin Payne warned of risks to correctional staff, calling it "incredibly disturbing" that Wassenaar, with his violent history, was not in maximum custody.

Reentry

A recent report by Suzuki Law found West Virginia has one of the nation’s lowest recidivism rates, ranking below all but four states. This mirrors a PEW survey from over a decade ago with similar findings. West Virginia’s 24% recidivism rate, though it may seem high, is less than half of Delaware’s 65%, the highest nationally. The state’s success reflects a longstanding commitment to prison reform.

An April 2024 report found that among nearly 13,000 people released from North Carolina prisons in fiscal year 2021, 44% were re-arrested within two years and 33% were reimprisoned, costing taxpayers heavily. To address this, former Gov. Roy Cooper launched a statewide reentry initiative in January 2024. Gov. Josh Stein and new Department of Adult Correction Secretary Leslie Cooley Dismukes have since reaffirmed their commitment to reducing recidivism.

Gov. Katie Hobbs issued an executive order to help former inmates find a pathway to work. Her executive order launched Arizona’s Reentry 2030 program. The Reentry 2030 program provides workforce development services such as apprenticeships and vocational training to people reentering society after incarceration.

Issues In Corrections

Recent headlines paint a disturbing picture: five corrections officers charged with murder, eight employees accused of sexual abuse and four officers arrested for excessive force. These aren’t isolated incidents – they’re symptoms of a deeper problem in our correctional system. As someone who has spent years working inside these facilities, I see these cases as clear examples of leadership failures at both administrative and operational levels.

In the criminal justice system, algorithmic risk assessments predict a defendant’s risk to society, such as reoffending or missing court. However, no tools assess the risk the system poses to individuals. Researchers developed a new model that "flips the script," using U.S. federal sentencing data to predict the likelihood a person will receive an unusually harsh sentence based on legally irrelevant factors.

The discipline of public health has begun to recognize the structural inequities of the carceral system as drivers of poor individual and population health. The number of people incarcerated and the length of their incarceration determine the scope and gravity of their exposure to these individual and public health effects. Plea bargains all but guarantee a period of incarceration, often for many years, because prosecutors have significant bargaining power against defendants who often do not fully understand their rights or the likelihood of receiving the sentences that prosecutors would be seeking in trial.

Data & Statistics

The report provides data on jail inmates, based on the Annual Survey of Jails and the Census of Jails. It describes the number of persons held in local jails, inmate demographics, jail incarceration rates, conviction status and offense characteristics, the number of admissions to jail, persons supervised outside of jail, jail capacity, and staff employed in local jails.

The Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) has provided to a third party an unredacted version of certain data submitted under the Mortality in Correctional Institutions (MCI) data collection in response to a court order issued in the course of litigation that remains ongoing. This dataset includes data submitted pursuant to that collection, by state departments of corrections and local jails for deaths in their facilities between October 1, 2015 and December 31, 2019. Data elements include individual names, dates of birth, name of the state, name and location of facility, admission date, death date, cause of death, race, sex, and commitment offense of the individual.

State Roundup

California

California has halted a court-ordered medical parole program, opting instead to send its most incapacitated prisoners back to state lockups or release them early. The unilateral termination is drawing protests from attorneys representing prisoners and the author of the state’s medical parole legislation, who say it unnecessarily puts this vulnerable population at risk. Attorneys said the roughly 20 parolees the state has returned to lockup need significant help performing basic functions of daily life, with some in wheelchairs or suffering from debilitating mental or physical disabilities.

Thousands of drug tests used by a major US diagnostic company in California prisons last year are suspected to have generated false positive results, an enormous error that has jeopardized the parole requests of some incarcerated people, according to civil rights lawyers and prison medical records. California prison officials have known about the issue for months, but have failed to clear people’s records or reverse the consequences people have faced from the tests. The problem originated with tests conducted by Quest Diagnostics. A data analysis suggests there could have been more than 5,000 false positives.

San Francisco is taking a significant step forward in public health for the incarcerated by opening a new pharmacy in County Jail #2. Funded by the Department of Health Care Services through the innovative CalAIM Justice Involved Initiative PATH Grant, the pharmacy is set to enhance health services and ensure continuity of care for those re-entering society. The new 600-square-foot pharmacy represents an exciting venture into reformative justice by offering a minimum 30-day supply of prescribed medications upon release, which could lower the possibility of treatment disruption.

Florida

One of the nine Duval County jail officers suspended earlier this month in connection with the death of 31-year-old Charles Faggart was reprimanded last year in an unrelated internal affairs investigation centered around the death of a different inmate. Matthew Sullivan landed in hot water last year after David Given, 68, was found dead. Sullivan was among the corrections officers whom Jacksonville Sheriff T.K. Waters suspended earlier this month in connection with Faggart’s death. The Tributary filed public-records requests for any previous internal affairs investigations against the nine employees. JSO charged $370 for those records and has not yet provided all of them.

Indiana

A lawsuit accuses the Indiana Department of Correction of negligence in the July 2023 death of an inmate at the Plainfield Correctional Facility by failing to provide proper medical care. Charles Riggs died “due to acute respiratory failure, due to hypoxic encephalopathy, as the result of Hepatitis C cirrhosis,” according to the lawsuit filed in Marion Superior Court. The lawsuit says that on June 20, 2023, Riggs was discharged to a mental health watch cell. The entirety of Riggs’ stay in the cell was digitally recorded and showed continued effects of a serious medical condition, including hepatic encephalopathy, according to the complaint.

Louisiana

Hours of sworn testimony from corrections staff, incarcerated people, and experts offered a rare look into the "farm line" at Louisiana’s most notorious prison — compulsory labor for pennies an hour, overseen by armed guards on a former plantation site. Plaintiffs argue the practice endangers lives and evokes slavery. Filed in 2023, the lawsuit challenges forced labor and extreme heat exposure, two growing areas of prison litigation nationwide. Similar lawsuits have emerged in Alabama, Colorado, and Florida. Last month, a federal judge in Texas ruled prison heat exposure unconstitutional, though he stopped short of mandating air conditioning.

Missouri

In an effort to reduce recidivism and make communities safer, there’s a joint effort amongst jails in Missouri and a local non-profit to enroll incarcerated people into Medicaid. Missouri Appleseed helped spearhead an effort to start the Medicaid in Missouri Jails Initiative. It provides free training, ongoing consultation, and tablets to assist jails to start their own jail-based Medicaid enrollment programs. As of spring 2025, the number of county jails implementing Medicaid enrollment has reached 18. In Missouri, more than 1.4 million people are enrolled in Medicaid.

Forty-five people in custody have died since the high-security facility opened in 2002 through February of this year, including 29 who were pronounced dead after being transported to area hospitals, according to public records. A federal lawsuit against the city over jail conditions describes officers using excessive force, chemical agents and water shut-offs to control those in custody. There have been multiple riots. A correctional officer was taken hostage. The closure of the city’s second jail forced hundreds more people into the already troubled facility. As that happened, the number of officers staffing the city jail dwindled.

U.S. Rep. Wesley Bell (D-Mo.) proposed a sweeping federal plan to reform how local governments handle low-level, nonviolent crime—an effort he says will save taxpayer money, reduce recidivism, and make communities safer. Bell’s new legislative package, the Justice Forward Agenda, includes two major bills: the Community First Act and the DART Act of 2025. Together, they aim to incentivize local governments to reduce jail populations and invest in alternatives to incarceration such as mental health treatment, addiction services, job training, and housing.

Ohio

Warren County commissioners are being asked to use $3 million in opiate settlement funds to finance a three-year program designed to assist residents needing help. The proposal would provide transportation for those in recovery, $75,000 per year; establish a jail-based treatment program in the Trumbull County jail, $150,000 per year; establish a county behavioral health case manager in the jail, $115,000 per year; upgrade body scanners for the jail, $92,000; continue a workforce development program for people leaving the jail, $500,000 per year and establish a community service program for those in the criminal justice system, $96,000 per year.

Oklahoma

A detainee in the Oklahoma County Detention Center (jail) was found near death Friday night during the evening head count and declared dead later at the hospital. It is the fourth death in the Jail in 2025. Per protocol, all deaths in the Jail are investigated as homicides by the Oklahoma County Detention Center until the Oklahoma Medical Examiner has determined the cause of death.

Vermont

The House Corrections and Institutions Committee reviewed many of the fees paid by incarcerated people and their families, like commissary, phone calls and digital communications. In 2024 alone, Vermont Department of Corrections’ commissions on phone calls and commissary raised almost $650,000. A bill, H.294, sponsored by Rep. Troy Headrick, I-Burlington, would make communications services like phones and messaging free for incarcerated people. Only a handful of states have provided free communications in prison, and as DOC officials pointed out, some of those states have seen increased use — and costs.

Vermont legislators are reviewing a wide-ranging prison equity bill that, if enacted, would make the Vermont Department of Corrections (VDOC) the first to pay incarcerated workers minimum wage. H.294 would also make all available forms of communication—not just phone calls—free to incarcerated people and their loved ones, and cap the prices of commissary items. VDOC is currently in the process of transitioning from its longstanding communications vendor, ViaPath Technologies (better known in some systems by its former name Global Tel Link, or GTL) to IC Solutions, which will take over in June. Video calls will drop to $0.16 per minute under IC Solutions; messaging and video costs will remain the same.

Virginia

The Arlington County Sheriff’s Office (ACSO) welcomes Dr. Richard Malish, M.D., as the new Chief Medical Director for the newly created position in the Arlington County Detention Facility. The Chief Medical Director for the detention facility is a newly created position that was approved by the County Board at the request of Sheriff Quiroz. Over the next 12 months, the sheriff’s office will transition all positions under the current medical contract to county positions. Falcon Correctional and Community Services Inc, will oversee the transition from contracted medical care to a county run program which is set to begin with the hiring of Dr. Malish.

Kymberly Hobbs alleged that correctional officers participated in a savage beating of her brother, Charles Givens, breaking his ribs that tore into his spleen, leading him to bleed out and die in his cell. A grand jury declined to bring a criminal indictment against the officers back in 2022. Earlier stories raised broader questions about the conditions at the specialized facility in southwest Virginia. Givens' records showed he was transferred to a hospital outside of the prison several times over the years — including multiple stays for hypothermia. Other inmates had been hospitalized for hypothermia at least 13 times in three years during cold-weather months.

Rikers Island

The City Council sued Mayor Eric Adams in an attempt to block an executive order that permitted the Trump administration to open offices at the Rikers Island jail complex as part of its immigration crackdown. The lawsuit argues that the executive order City Hall issued last week, which allows federal immigration agents to re-establish a presence at Rikers after being banned from the jail in 2014, is “part of a corrupt quid pro quo bargain” between the mayor and President Trump.

A state judge temporarily blocked Mayor Eric Adams on Monday from allowing the federal government to open offices at the Rikers Island jail complex, delaying the mayor’s efforts to help President Trump with his immigration crackdown. The judge’s temporary restraining order came after the City Council sued the mayor last week in an attempt to stop an executive order that the Adams administration issued to allow federal immigration authorities into Rikers for the first time in more than a decade.

Advocates for closing Rikers Island have found an unlikely ally in Harvey Weinstein. Held at Rikers since his sex-crime conviction was overturned last April, Weinstein’s lawyers have filed numerous complaints about his treatment, petitioned for his relocation, and notified the city of plans to sue over his medical care. His lawyer, Imran H. Ansari, argued last week that the “mistreatment and mismanagement” of Weinstein’s conditions had become life-threatening. Typically, high-profile defendants call for jail reforms only after they are no longer detained, noted Elizabeth Glazer, founder of Vital City and former criminal justice adviser to Mayor Bill de Blasio.

Technology

Louisville Metro Corrections is rolling out a new high-tech system designed to save lives by closely monitoring the health of inmates in real time. The Vital Monitoring System tracks key health indicators such as heart rate, oxygen levels and signs of medical distress. Officials say it could be a game changer for jail operations and comes in response to a series of high-profile deaths in custody.

Correctional Healthcare Providers

Wellpath

A federal class action lawsuit filed this week claims a controversial medical services contractor for Essex County jails — and by extension Sheriff Kevin Coppinger — refuses to provide hepatitis C treatment to incarcerated individuals. Filed by Prisoners’ Legal Services on behalf of two men currently incarcerated at the Middleton House of Correction. Filed by Prisoners’ Legal Services on behalf of two men currently incarcerated at the Middleton House of Correction, the lawsuit says “nearly everyone” at the county’s jail facilities are denied direct-acting antiviral drugs (DAAs) as part of practices by Wellpath, a privately-contracted health care provider.

The mother of a man who died in a struggle with guards at the Yakima County jail sued, accusing the county of neglecting her mentally ill son, killing him and trying to cover up the circumstances of his death. The lawsuit filed by attorneys for the mother, Loan Duong, says the county and its health care contractor failed to properly care for her son, Hien Trung Hua, who was booked into jail during a mental health crisis in 2023. The lawsuit names Yakima County, its jail director, 11 individual guards and Wellpath as defendants. It alleges negligence, assault and civil rights violations.

NaphCare

A jury in U.S. District Court for Western Washington has found that NaphCare, the medical provider of the Pierce County Jail, must pay ex-inmate Javier Tapia $25 million for negligence after missing signs of a severe blood clot in 2018 that resulted in the amputation of his leg. According to court records, jail staff began documenting the deterioration of Tapia’s health in September 2018, three months after he was arrested on suspicion of driving a stolen vehicle. Tapia began refusing meals, appeared confused and was nonverbal to staff. In October a corrections officer observed Tapia’s “toes were turning black.”