JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — The Mississippi Department of Corrections says an inmate has died at the Greene County Hospital in Leakesville.
The department said Saturday that Johnny Townsend was pronounced dead Wednesday. He was 56. He had been taken to the hospital from South Mississippi Correctional Institution, where he was serving a life sentence. An autopsy will be done.
Townsend was sentenced May 27, 2011, for capital murder in Jackson County.
At least 13 Mississippi inmates have died this year.
At least 106 Mississippi inmates died from late 2019 until the end of 2020. Several inmates died during outbursts of violence in late December 2019 and early January 2020. The U.S. Justice Department announced in February 2020 that it is investigating the state’s prison system.
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