
Jacksonville Sheriff T.K. Waters and a corrections officer have settled a wrongful death lawsuit with the family of a woman who killed herself in the Duval County Pre-trial Detention Facility after multiple suicide attempts.
The settlement, reached in December, comes on the heels of a new and rare Jacksonville law that requires all lawsuit settlement agreements involving the sheriff’s office be approved by the sheriff or city council president. Waters called for the legislation last year after learning Jacksonville officials had settled a wrongful death case for $200,000 that involved the actions of one of his officers during a 2019 traffic stop case. Opponents of the legislation worried it could leave individual officers vulnerable to litigation if the sheriff rejects a settlement.
Esther Joy Truax’s mother, Nancy Simmerson, brought the lawsuit in 2023 against Waters in his official capacity as sheriff on behalf of her daughter’s estate and her five children. A lawyer for the sheriff filed notice of the settlement agreement in federal court on Dec. 30, informing the judge that Simmerson is establishing guardianships for Truax’s children and that a motion seeking the judge’s approval of the settlement agreement is forthcoming. The notice did not include details of the agreement.
Jail staffers were “well aware” of Truax’s mental health struggles and previous suicide attempts but were nonetheless deliberately indifferent and negligent, the lawsuit claims.
Neither legal representatives for the plaintiff nor those for the defendants responded to requests for comment.
Truax, then 35, was arrested Dec. 1, 2021, on a drug charge. According to the lawsuit, Truax reported a history of mental health issues for which she had sought treatment. The lawsuit notes that during at least four previous admissions to the Duval County jail, Truax disclosed that she had made prior suicide attempts, the most recent being in 2019.
After her latest arrest, Truax was placed in the general population where detainees rescued her from an attempt three days after her arrival, according to the lawsuit. She was then placed in a third-floor section of the jail reserved for close supervision.
After a second attempt, Truax was placed in four-point restraints – meaning all four limbs – and left alone in a self-harm confinement cell. Corrections officer Alanna Woodard was assigned to keep watch of Truax, according to the lawsuit. The sheriff’s office’s standard protocol called for staff to perform self-harm checks every 15 minutes. In addition to the sheriff’s office, the lawsuit names Woodward as a defendant.
Woodard found Truax in her cell unresponsive after Truax had used the restraints in an attempt to strangle herself, according to the lawsuit. She was taken to UF Health Jacksonville in critical condition and kept on life support. She died on Dec. 10, 2021.
The lawsuit alleges others have similarly been impacted by inadequate practices and policies.
“Sheriff Waters has knowledge of a systematic and widespread practice where inmates of the Duval County Pretrial Detention Facility suffering from suicidal thoughts and/or thoughts of self-harm receive inadequate medical care and supervision despite an obvious and apparent need for the same,” the lawsuit states.
There have been 15 reported jail suicides since 2011, The Tributary learned through public information requests made to the sheriff’s office and the medical examiner’s office. Ten of those suicides occurred during the time Armor Correctional Health Care was contracted to provide healthcare services. The company began its contract in 2018.
Under Armor’s care, three people who later died, including Truax, had multiple known suicide attempts in the jail, records show. After a series of articles by The Tributary highlighted problems with jail healthcare, Waters — who became sheriff in November 2022 — ended the contract with Armor and contracted with NaphCare in 2023.
Krista Torralva is a freelance journalist with a focus on civil and criminal courts. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, Orlando Sentinel, The Dallas Morning News and other esteemed publications.
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Jacksonville Sheriff T.K. Waters settles lawsuit in mother of five’s jail suicide death
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