At least 23rd Mississippi inmate dies since late December

Published 12:33 pm Wednesday, March 4, 2020

(AP) — An autopsy will be done on a Mississippi inmate who died Tuesday at a Jackson hospital.

The Mississippi Department of Corrections said Grayland Cox, 62, died at Merit Health Central and “no foul play is suspected.”

Cox is at least the 23rd Mississippi inmate to die since late December. Some of the deaths happened during outbursts of violence. Some inmates were found hanging in their cells. Coroners said other deaths were from natural causes.

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The U.S. Justice Department announced Feb. 5 that its civil rights division would investigate Mississippi prisons that have struggled with violence, tight budgets, short staffing and poor living conditions, including broken sinks and toilets in cells and widespread mold in showers.

Cox had been taken to the hospital from Central Mississippi Correctional Facility, where he was serving a six-year sentence for a conviction of selling cocaine. He was sentenced in November 2017 in Marshall County.