JACKSON, Miss. (AP) - The Mississippi Department of Corrections said Friday that one inmate died Wednesday after being assaulted by another at a privately-run prison.
The department said the attack happened at the Tallahatchie County Correctional Facility in Tutwiler.
Lester Andre Henderson, 36, died before being taken to a hospital Wednesday, the Department of Corrections said. Henderson was sentenced to 15 years on May 2, 2013, for unlawful touching of a child in coastal Harrison County.
The attack is being investigated by CoreCivic, the private company that runs the prison; and by the Department of Corrections and the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation.
The U.S. Justice Department announced in February that it is investigating Mississippi’s prison system. Several inmates died during outbursts of violence in late December and early January.
The Tallahatchie prison holds inmates from Tallahatchie County and the states of Mississippi, South Carolina, Vermont and Wyoming. It also holds federal inmates for the U.S. Marshals Service.
Mississippi has about 560 inmates in the Tallahatchie prison. They were moved there after the violence in late December and early January at the Mississippi State Penitentiary at Parchman.
In a separate news release Friday, the Department of Corrections said an inmate serving a life sentence died Thursday in the hospital at the Mississippi State Penitentiary at Parchman. Michael Gene Ray, 64, had been hospitalized for several days.
Ray was convicted of murder in February 2008 in Lowndes County. The department said no foul play is suspected in his death, according to the county coroner. An autopsy will be done.
Henderson was at least the 60th Mississippi inmate to die since late December, and Ray was at least the 61st.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.