Las Vegas Sun

March 19, 2024

Nevada prison inmate dies, the sixth in two months

An inmate at Ely State Prison has become the sixth Nevada prisoner to die in less than two months.

Robert Luttrell, 62, was found dead in his cell today, according to the Nevada Department of Corrections. No foul play is suspected.

Prison officials said an autopsy will be performed by the White Pine Coroner’s Office.

Luttrell had been in prison since September 2006 serving a sentence of up to 30 years for robbery with a deadly weapons enhancement. His case originated in Washoe County.

On Nov. 8, Truman Walker was discovered in his cell at High Desert State Prison after he hanged himself, according to the Clark County Coroner’s Office.

Walker, 67, had been at High Desert in Indian Springs since August 2000. He was serving a sentence for open and gross lewdness.

Four inmates died in October at the Northern Nevada Correctional Center in Carson City.

They are Richard Ferst, who died Oct. 5 and was serving a sentence for burglary, grand larceny and possession of stolen items; convicted cop killer Larry Peck, 62, who died Oct. 4; Joseph Oxford-McArthur, 31, who was serving a one- to three-year sentence for domestic battery and was found unconscious inside his cell Oct. 21 before dying four days later at an area hospital; and an unidentified inmate who died at a medical facility inside the prison Oct. 21 (his name is not yet public because prison officials have not notified relatives). Officials have ruled out foul play in all of the deaths except for Oxford-McArthur’s.

Nevada Department of Corrections officials have declined to discuss the circumstances of any of the deaths, raising questions about inmate care from relatives and the American Civil Liberties Union of Nevada.

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