Whistleblower sues Marion County Sheriff Billy Woods. Lawsuit claims wrongful termination for advocating for humane inmate care.
Ocala Gazette
By Caroline Brauchler
caroline@ocalagazette.com
February 5, 2025
The former medical liaison for the Marion County Jail has sued the sheriff’s office, claiming she was retaliated against after pleading for better medical care for inmates, according to court documents.
Mary Coy, a certified jail auditor, worked at the jail from February 2018 until August 2024, when she claims she was wrongfully terminated from the Marion County Sheriff’s Office for bringing forward concerns about the quality of care provided by Heart of Florida Health Center, the agency contracted for all inmate medical care.
Coy is suing Marion County Sheriff Billy Woods under the Florida Whistleblower Act. She first claimed to be the target of retaliation while still employed by the agency in October 2023.
MCSO declined to comment on the pending lawsuit.
Coy was subject to an administrative review and disciplinary counseling during her employment, in response to Coy writing letters to jail executives claiming the facility was not complying with the law and not maintaining proper standards of medical care.
The operation of the county jail has come under scrutiny in recent months following the death of inmate Scott Whitley, a diagnosed schizophrenic. Whitley died on Nov. 25, 2022, after being forcibly removed from his cell by six deputies. The medical examiner ruled the cause of death was homicide. None of the deputies involved in the incident have faced criminal charges as a result.
Whitley’s family filed, and later settled, a wrongful death suit against the MCSO. The "Gazette" sued MCSO to be allowed to share surveillance video of the incident with the public amid its reporting on conditions at the facility. A judge ordered that the publication be allowed to view the footage and report on the findings.
Within the past five years, 29 people have died within the custody of MCSO. Five of those deaths have occurred from August 2024 until the present.
Coy has been licensed as a registered nurse since 1985, according to the Florida Department of Health. Throughout her employment as the jail’s medical liaison, she consistently met and exceeded standards and was rated highly on performance evaluations, as obtained in her employee file.
Originally, it was part of Coy’s job description and duties to investigate and resolve inmate medical complaints. When Coy expressed concerns over inmates being neglected, the jail’s administration took away her ability to perform this part of her duties, as documented in her employee file.
In November 2022, Coy wrote a letter to HR Director Monica Chrisholm and Woods saying she felt a responsibility to bring forward her concerns about inmates not receiving appropriate treatment in accordance with the laws and standards she was hired to uphold.
In response to this letter, rather than investigating her concerns, the Office of Professional Standards opened an administrative investigation into Coy’s job performance, conducted by Capt. Brian Spivey.
"The conclusion of Capt. Spivey’s administrative review resulted in a change in Liaison Coy’s job duties, specifically her no longer having the responsibility to investigate and resolve inmate complaints," according to the administrative review.
A clause was also added to her job description to prevent her from being directly involved in inmate care. Coy accused the agency of illegal workplace retaliation in November 2022 for doing so. An internal MCSO investigation found her allegations to be unsubstantiated.
The head of the jail, Chief Deputy Clint Bowen, and Heart of Florida administration, including Chief Healthcare Administrator John Pearson, claimed that Coy bringing forward these concerns about inmate care was outside of her job description, and that she was not authorized to give medical advice.
Bowen is now set to retire as head of the jail and will be replaced by Charles McIntosh.
"She routinely provides her medical opinions and treatment plan suggestions to the clinical staff and that is not in the scope of her purview or responsibility as the medical services liaison," Pearson wrote to Bowen.
Records of the job description from 2007 on, however, included responsibilities for investigating and resolving inmate medical complaints, in addition to monitoring the status and delivery of the health care being provided to inmates.
It was only after Coy filed her first complaint about the quality of medical care being administered by Heart of Florida that the administrative review was conducted, and her responsibilities were amended to only include "monitoring" rather than "investigating and resolving."
Coy implored to MCSO’s Office of Professional Standards that she did not sign up to only monitor without being able to do something to intervene and ensure that inmates receive the care they are entitled to.
"I am seen as the ‘bad’ guy for trying to help human beings receive basic humane treatment. I have read in documentation many horrific things that I have reported and outlined in detail. Now my hands are tied, and I am not able to petition for inmates with obvious documented disabilities to receive priorly allowed walking aides due to their disability," Coy wrote.
Coy also described a lack of medications administered, even "something as basic as Tylenol or ibuprofen" to help inmates who are in pain.
Upon being hired for the job, Coy was required to sign a code of ethics to adhere to abide by during the course of her employment. Every employee, deputy and corrections officer signs paperwork adhering to the pledge.
In part, it reads: "I shall not engage in nor condone brutal, cruel, or inhumane treatment of others, including inmates in my care and custody."
The code of ethics outlines a "fundamental duty to serve mankind; to safeguard lives and property, to protect the innocent against deception, the weak against oppression or intimidation, and the peaceful against violence or disorder."
During her time as the jail’s medical liaison, Coy filed monthly quality assurance reports to Bowen detailing compliance, or lack of compliance, with the jail’s policies for timely medical care. As a certified jail auditor, Coy was qualified to do so.
In October 2022, shortly before her first complaint of inadequate medical care, the quality assurance report obtained by the "Gazette" shows that medical calls were far below compliance in according to the state standard of being received within 24 hours and then triaged and assessed within 72 hours.
From a random medical sick call audit of 30 files, only 24% of calls were met within the time requirements. To meet compliance, 85% of calls need to be met within the outlined time frame, according to the October 2022 quality assurance report.
In that same October, Heart of Florida’s contract with MCSO was amended to increase the medical staff with two more medical advanced nurse practitioners, five registered nurses, two practical nurses and three medical assistants. The increase in staff was necessary due to an increase in the inmate population, according to the contract.
This increased the cost of the contract to more than $9.1 million—over a $1 million increase from what the agency agreed to originally pay for the 2022-23 fiscal year.
From the time of the internal investigation into Coy’s claims of retaliation in 2022 until July 2024, Coy complied with her new job description to only monitor inmate care, even though she continued to have serious concerns about inmate neglect.
"Then, in July 2024, (Coy) reported the sheriff’s deliberate indifference to the serious medical needs of an inmate," according to the lawsuit. "Despite her efforts to highlight deficiencies, corrective actions were continually disregarded."
Coy’s attorney claims that during that time, Coy uncovered falsified medical records for mental health inmates, including documented assessments for inmates who had never been seen or treated, according to the lawsuit.
Coy reported this to Bowen, high-ranking MCSO officials, jail administration and medical staff.
The next month, Coy was terminated from her position as jail medical liaison and escorted off the premises, according to her employment file.
Once Coy was fired, no quality assurance reports were conducted from August 2024 until the present. MCSO recently hired a new jail medical liaison, Meghan Taylor, to fill Coy’s place.
Coy’s case has been assigned to Marion County Judge Lisa Herndon. Coy has requested a trial by jury. Read more
How The Florida Whistleblower Act Protects Your Rights
Whistle-blower Retaliation Complaints
Florida whistleblower Act Law: Defenses, Damages, Elements & Protection
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