The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office John E. Goode Pre-Trial Detention Facility. [Andrew Pantazi]

The death of a 66-year-old man marks the third to happen at the Duval County jail this year.

Leroy Beckett died on Wednesday after being taken from the jail to a nearby hospital for treatment on Feb. 9, according to a news release from the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office. He “had multiple ongoing medical issues,” the Sheriff’s Office said.

Beckett was arrested on July 11 on two charges of selling cocaine.

The Medical Examiner’s Office will determine Beckett’s cause of death. No other information was released.

Prior to Beckett’s death, two other people died during their time at the Pre-Trial Detention Facility. Gregory S. Norton, 59, died on Jan. 31 after being taken to the hospital for a medical issue. Then 32-year-old Kiara Lapearl Reid died on Feb. 4 after officers found her “in distress” while doing rounds.

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.

Nichole Manna is The Florida Trib's Senior Investigative Reporter. She has been with the organization since 2023 and has covered the criminal justice system for more than a decade.

Nichole has extensively covered conditions at the Duval County jail and in 2024 received first place from the Green Eyeshade Awards in online investigations for her reporting of medical neglect at the facility. That series of stories was recognized with awards at the local, regional and national level. She took home the first place prize for a feature story in a small newsroom from the Online Journalism Awards in 2025 for her series, ‘Cold-Blooded’, which dissected a 1993 death penalty case and questioned whether the defendant received a fair trial.

Prior to joining The Trib, Nichole was an investigative reporter at the Fort Worth Star-Telegram in Texas where she was a Livingston Award finalist for a series of stories about a neighborhood with the lowest life expectancy in the state. Her work helped get residents access to free pop-up clinics and they continue to receive help with food disparities.

She is currently working with ProPublica’s Local Reporting Network to produce an investigative project.

You can reach her at nichole@floridatrib.org.