Man 'found unresponsive' dies in Limestone Correctional Facility

Evan Mealins, Montgomery Advertiser
·1 min read
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Limestone Correctional Facility in Harvest, Alabama.

A man incarcerated at Limestone Correctional Facility died Thursday, an Alabama Department of Corrections spokesperson confirmed Friday afternoon.

Jonathan Cossey was found unresponsive in his cell on Aug. 11, ADOC spokesperson Kelly Betts told the Advertiser. Staff attempted life-saving measures and transported him to the prison infirmary, but he was pronounced dead, Betts said.

Cossey, whose manner of death is pending an autopsy, was 42 years old and from Harvest, Alabama.

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The U.S. Department of Justice has condemned Alabama's treatment of its prisoners and prison conditions, filing a lawsuit against the state and ADOC in 2020. The DOJ says that Alabama "fails to provide adequate protection from prisoner-on-prisoner violence and prisoner-on-prisoner sexual abuse, fails to provide safe and sanitary conditions, and subjects prisoners to excessive force at the hands of prison staff."

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Nearly all Alabama prisons are overcrowded and understaffed, as well. The most recent data from ADOC reports 2,295 people incarcerated in Limestone prison, which is designed to hold only 1,628.

The prison also had over 180 vacant correctional staffing positions and a 52% vacancy rate as of December 2021, according to court filings from a lawsuit related to lack of access to mental health care in ADOC.

The Advertiser relies on tips from incarcerated people or those with close ties to the prison system to report on deaths in Alabama's prisons.

Evan Mealins is the justice reporter for the Montgomery Advertiser. Contact him at emealins@gannett.com or follow him on Twitter @EvanMealins.

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This article originally appeared on Montgomery Advertiser: Inmate 'found unresponsive' dies in Limestone Correctional Facility