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An incarcerated man within the custody of the Alabama Department of Corrections died over the previous weekend, according to confirmations obtained by APR from a department spokesperson.
Willie Jones, Jr, an incarcerated man who was being treated at Baptist South Medical Center in Montgomery, died on Jan. 6. Court records obtained by APR indicate that Jones was 48 years old.
Jones, who had been transported to the Montgomery health center on Jan. 4, for treatment of an unspecified illness, was declared brain dead and removed from life support on Friday. Jones had previously been housed at Staton Correctional Facility in Elmore County.
Jones is the latest confirmed death from the ADOC received by APR, with the second more recent being Kevin Marcus Ritter, a 33-year-old incarcerated man who was confirmed dead by the Jefferson County Coroner earlier this week.
Ritter was found unresponsive on Saturday in his form at the Jefferson County facility and was later transported to the health care unit within the facility, where life-saving measures were attempted but ultimately failed, according to a department spokesperson on Tuesday.
“Unfortunately, he could not be revived, and he was pronounced deceased,” the spokesperson said, referring to Ritter.
Ritter was the first confirmed death of an incarcerated individual in state custody for 2023.
As with all cases of death in the state correctional system, the ADOC’s Law Enforcement Services Division is investigating the surrounding circumstances of both Ritter’s and Jones’ death.
With their death, at least one other individual has been confirmed dead in state custody in recent weeks, with this most likely being an undercount over the current number of fatalities.
Brandon Taylor, a 39-year-old incarcerated man at Staton Correctional Facility, was found unresponsive in his bed at the Elmore County facility on Dec. 27, and despite live-saving attempts, succumbed to an unknown malady that Tuesday.
