JACKSON, Miss. (AP) - An 80-year-old inmate serving a life sentence on a murder conviction died Monday at Central Mississippi Correctional Facility. The state Department of Corrections said no foul play is suspected and an autopsy would be done.
David W. Parvin was at least the 26th Mississippi inmate to die since late December, and the state prison system is under investigation by the U.S. Justice Department. Some of the deaths happened amid outbursts of violence.
Parvin was convicted in Monroe County, and the Mississippi Supreme Court overturned his first conviction on appeal. He was tried a second time and convicted again. On March 10, 2014, he was sentenced to life in prison. The Mississippi Court of Appeals later upheld his conviction.
Officials on Monday released the name of the inmate who died Saturday at Baptist Memorial Hospital in Oxford. Willie C. Booker, 77, was serving life at the Mississippi State Penitentiary at Parchman for a murder conviction in Calhoun County. He had been imprisoned since he was sentenced in January 1997.
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