Another inmate dies in Mississippi custody

Published 7:32 pm Saturday, August 25, 2018

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Another inmate has died in the custody of the Mississippi Department of Corrections this month.

Rankin County Coroner David Ruth says 33-year-old Nicole Rathman died Thursday at Merritt Health Center. An autopsy will determine how she died.

The Clarion Ledger reports Rathman’s death is the 11th this month and the fourth from Central Mississippi Correctional Facility.

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Ruth says she had been a patient at the hospital for a couple of days before she died.

Sentenced in 2013, Rathman was serving a 10-year sentence out of Rankin County for selling methamphetamine.

MDOC officials were not immediately available for comment.

The ages of the 11 deceased inmates range from 24 to 78. The deaths were logged at South Mississippi Correctional Institution, the state penitentiary at Parchman and Wilkinson County Correctional Facility.