The story of a Georgia jail reveals the hidden cost of privatized inmate healthcare (thread) reut.rs/2J7utMV
In April 2014, Matthew Loflin died from a treatable heart condition while awaiting trial at Savannah’s Chatham County Detention Center. Corizon, the private company that managed health care there, opposed his hospitalization, court records show. 
That same year, Sheena Burton was arrested for missing court on a traffic charge. While detained at the Savannah jail, she did not receive her psychiatric medication and became violent.
Burton got into a fight with Wendy Smoot-Lee, a guard who suffered nerve damage as a result of the altercation and was forced to take disability. She later sued Corizon for negligence in its handling of Burton's healthcare, an allegation the company denies.
In September 2014, Donald Johnson stopped receiving regular blood pressure checks for his hypertension while in jail. He was found unresponsive in his cell two months later and died.
On New Year's 2015, Matthew Ajibade, 21, arrived at the jail and became uncooperative and combative. He was wrestled to the ground, kicked, punched and put in a restraint chair. Hours after a check-up from a Corizon nurse, he died.
Jimmie Lee Alexander died of a blood clot 32 hours after he crawled across the jail floor, begging for hospital care. A judge dismissed a lawsuit against the sheriff, nurses and Corizon but ruled the case could proceed against the doctor and two jailers, who deny wrongdoing.
The Savannah jail’s breakdowns speak to a national trend: as more of America's top jails contract with private health companies, more people are dying while locked up reut.rs/2J7utMV
Read part one of this series, finding that two-thirds of those who died in America's top jails had not yet had their day in court reut.rs/37cm0Sz
And explore our unprecedented state-by-state database for yourself reut.rs/2GXjlBH
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