A third Idaho prison inmate dies after catching COVID-19. It’s the first in Arizona.
An incarcerated Idaho man who tested positive for the coronavirus in an Arizona prison has died.
The Idaho Department of Corrections said Monday that an Idaho inmate being held at the Saguaro Correctional Center in Eloy, Arizona, was taken to the Banner Casa Grande Medical Center in Casa Grande, Arizona, on Oct. 1 after showing coronavirus-like symptoms.
Shortly after he was admitted to the hospital, the man was tested for COVID-19, and the test returned positive.
At 8:18 p.m. Saturday, the man was pronounced dead in the hospital. He is the first Idaho inmate being held in Arizona to die from the virus. According to the IDOC, the deceased man was one of 438 incarcerated men being held in the prison.
The man who died, who was not named as of Monday, is the third Idaho inmate overall who has died in connection with the coronavirus, which causes the COVID-19 respiratory disease.
In an email Tuesday, IDOC spokesperson Jeff Ray said the deceased man’s next of kin declined the department’s request to release his name to the public.
The first man in prison custody to die was 66-year-old Frank Dawson Conover, who died July 29. Dawson was incarcerated at the Idaho State Correctional Center in Kuna when he contracted the virus.
Another man — 64-year-old Randall Mark Osterhout — died Aug. 30 at a Boise hospital after testing positive for the coronavirus. Osterhout was also incarcerated at the ISCC before he was taken to a hospital for treatment on Aug. 14.
Earlier this year Idaho signed a contract with the Saguaro prison to house Idaho inmates, which is owned by CoreCivic, one of the largest private-prison companies in the United States.
This story was originally published October 19, 2020 at 3:22 PM.
