ADOC confirms two additional prison deaths in February, March

A spokesperson for the Alabama Department of Corrections has confirmed two additional deaths in the months of February and March, according to a statement provided to APR on Tuesday.

With these latest confirmations, the total amount of fatalities among the state’s incarcerated population over the last two months has increased to at least 18 total deaths: 13 in the month of February and five so far in March.

The most recent death from these latest confirmations occurred on Saturday.

Joshua Strickland, a 40-year-old incarcerated man at Bullock Correctional Facility, was found unresponsive in his cell and transported immediately to the health care unit within the facility, according to the ADOC spokesperson. Medical staff attempted to resuscitate Strickland, who remained unresponsive. These efforts ultimately failed, and he was pronounced dead later that same day.

A source within the Alabama correctional system with knowledge of the incident involving Strickland said that he died in his sleep. This has yet to be confirmed by the ADOC.

Roughly a week prior, Christopher Melton, a 37-year-old incarcerated man at Ventress Correctional Facility, was attacked by another incarcerated individual at the Barbour County facility and injured so severely that he had to be transported to an area hospital for treatment, according to the department spokesperson.

“While being transported to an area hospital for treatment, his condition rapidly deteriorated, and EMTs were called,” the department spokesperson said on Tuesday. “Life-saving measures were administered, and he was taken by ambulance to the hospital where he was pronounced deceased by the attending physician.”

Both incidents are being investigated by the Law Enforcement Services Division of the ADOC, with an official cause of death in each case yet to be released.