News Release (NCDS)
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) - A 27-year-old Nebraska State Penitentiary inmate has died at a Lincoln hospital, State prisons officials said Wednesday.
A news release from the Nebraska Department of Correctional Services says Jackson Hendrick died around 8:30 a.m. Wednesday. Officials did not say in the release why or when he had been taken to the hospital, and a department spokeswoman did not immediately respond to questions about whether his death was related to the new coronavirus outbreak or was caused by something else. The news release said Hendrick's cause of death has not been determined.
Hendrick was serving a 20- to 30-year sentence out of Lancaster County for first degree sexual assault of a minor. He began his sentence in December 2015.
Last week when a 63-year-old inmate with a long-term, unspecified medical condition died at the penitentiary, spokeswoman Laura Strimple said no staff or inmates had the virus. She did not answer questions about whether staff or inmates were being tested for the virus.
State law requires a grand jury investigation anytime an inmate dies in custody.