JACKSON, Miss. (AP) - Autopsies will be done on two inmates who died during the weekend in a privately run prison in Mississippi.
No foul play is suspected in the deaths, according to a statement from Management & Training Corporation, which runs East Mississippi Correctional Facility.
Fritz Garcia, 65, was found unresponsive on the floor of his cell. Medical staff administered CPR. Paramedics took Garcia to Rush Hospital, where he was pronounced dead. Garcia was serving a life sentence for homicide in Hancock County. He was sentenced in 2001.
Also Saturday, an officer discovered Terry Walker, 46, on the floor in his cell. Walker was taken to the medical unit and CPR was done. Paramedics arrived later and pronounced Walker dead. Walker was serving a 15-year sentence for armed robbery in Lowndes County. He was sentenced in 2013. In 2012, he was sentenced to two years for burglary in Monroe County.
At least 26 Mississippi inmates have died this year, according to the state Department of Corrections and private prison companies.
At least 106 Mississippi inmates died from late 2019 until the end of 2020. Several died during outbursts of violence in late December 2019 and early January 2020.
The U.S. Justice Department announced in February 2020 that it is investigating the state’s prison system.
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