State Prisoner Dies After Testing Positive For COVID-19

An offender at Nash Correctional Institution, diagnosed as COVID-19-positive, died Christmas night.

The 81-year-old offender had extensive underlying medical issues. The offender received a COVID-19-positive diagnosis on Dec. 8 and was hospitalized on Dec. 20 when the patient became more symptomatic.

“We sympathize with the offender’s family, as losing a loved one is hard enough, but especially so during the holiday season,” said Todd Ishee, Commissioner of Prisons. “We continue working diligently to mitigate the impact of COVID-19 in our prisons because the health and safety of the staff and the offender population continues to be our top priority.”

Given his family’s right to privacy and the confidentiality of prison offender records, the Department of Public Safety will not further identify the individual.