After a rash of lawsuits regarding detainee deaths at the J. Reuben Long Detention Center, Horry County may seek a new correctional healthcare provider.
Mediko, Inc., a Virginia-based correctional healthcare provider, has been contracted with the detention center in Horry County since 2017. In the years that followed, court records show that in Horry County over a dozen lawsuits were filed against the company for medical malpractice and wrongful deaths at the prison. Most of the suits claim that detainees who were detoxing from drugs while in detention did not receive proper care, leading to their deaths. Now, as the end of Mediko’s contract with the prison prepares to end, new options will be considered.
Lawsuits from 2025 and early 2026 appear to document at least six separate detainee deaths, all during the detoxification process and all in Horry County. Past suits against the company in the county have accused providers of not caring properly for patients’ preexisting conditions, not providing proper monitoring and not administering medication in a timely manner…