
A 32-year-old woman who was incarcerated at the Duval County jail died Sunday after corrections officers found her in medical distress, the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office said.
Jacksonville Sheriff’s officers arrested Kiara Lapearl Reid on a drug charge on Jan. 31, and four days later, officers found her “in distress” while doing rounds early Sunday at the Pre-Trial Detention Facility, according to multiple media reports.
The Jacksonville Fire and Rescue responders took Reed to the hospital where she died.
The Medical Examiner’s Office will determine Reid’s cause of death. No other information was provided.
Reid is the second person to die in the jail this year. Gregory S. Norton, 59, died on Jan. 31 after being taken to the hospital for a medical issue on Jan. 19, according to JSO.
Fifteen people died in custody of the Duval County jail last year. It was the fourth year in a row JSO saw double-digit deaths at the jail under a private medical provider.
The Tributary previously found that deaths in the Duval County jail tripled after 2017, when the Sheriff’s Office privatized medical care at the facility.
After The Tributary published its findings, JSO severed its $98-million contract with Armor Correctional Health Services, replacing it with a $110-million contract with NaphCare for the next five years.
Nichole Manna is The Tributary’s criminal justice reporter. You can reach her at nichole.manna@floridatrib.org or on Twitter at @NicholeManna.

