JACKSON — A 14th inmate this month has died in the Mississippi prison system.
The state Department of Corrections says 45-year-old Curtis Hughes was pronounced dead Tuesday night in the hospital at the Mississippi State Penitentiary at Parchman. An autopsy will be done.
In June 2017 in Scott County, Hughes was sentenced to 25 years for possession of methamphetamine and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.
Corrections Commissioner Pelicia Hall said this week that the number of deaths in Mississippi prisons is not “out of line” with previous months and most could be from natural causes.
Gov. Phil Bryant told reporters Wednesday that officials will investigate each death. He said inmates who die “are just as important as anyone else in the state of Mississippi whose lives have been lost.”
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