NaphCare, one of the country’s foremost private corrections health care providers with revenues estimated at more than $300 million, has significantly reduced its presence in Washington jails, citing a hostile legal environment stemming from allegations of medical negligence. The Alabama-based company has been named in at least 40 federal lawsuits in Washington over the past decade, with two cases resulting in near-record jury verdicts totaling more than $50 million and another settling for $2.75 million.
A year ago, NaphCare provided jail-health services in seven Washington counties. Now it operates only in Kitsap, Benton, and Pierce counties. In recent months, the company pulled out of Spokane, Skagit, Cowlitz, and Lewis counties. In a statement, NaphCare said the decisions reflected “the increasingly challenging legal and insurance environment for correctional health care providers in Washington” and noted that “unreasonably large civil verdicts have significantly increased liability exposure throughout the industry.”
One landmark case involved Javier Tapia, who lost the lower half of his leg due to gangrene while incarcerated at Pierce County Jail. A federal jury in Tacoma awarded $25 million to Tapia in 2025. He had been arrested in 2018 for driving a stolen vehicle while struggling with opioid addiction. Despite guards noticing signs of disordered thinking, he didn’t receive a medical examination. Instead, a mental health provider conducted an assessment. Tapia later learned a blood clot in his groin was rotting his leg while affecting his mental state. According to his lawsuit, NaphCare was “putting profit over care” by deploying underqualified licensed practical nurses to maximize its fixed-price contract.
In Spokane, NaphCare was hit with a $26.75 million verdict in 2022 in a wrongful death claim for Cindy Lou Hill, a 55-year-old mother who died from a ruptured intestine. Hill had complained of severe abdominal pain over four days but was never seen by a doctor. According to the lawsuit, NaphCare operates in 23 states and has been the target of at least 250 lawsuits nationwide.
This article is an AI-assisted summary. All facts and figures are drawn from the original report: https://www.columbian.com/news/2026/feb/06/health-care-provider-pulls-out-of-washington-jails-after-big-lawsuit-payouts/