As Oklahoma inmate population ages, more die in custody, Corrections Department records show

The manner of death in 155 of those cases has been deemed “natural” by the state medicalexaminer.

Natural deaths represent 75.6 percent of such cases, prison records show.

And despite being filled with thousands of violent criminals, homicides account for only 7.3 percent of deaths over the three-year span.

Only 15 of the inmates' deaths were described as “homicides,” a figure that includes prisoners executed by the state.

There were 14 inmate suicides reported by the Corrections Department since 2010, making it the third-most common way prisoners die while in state custody.

Thirteen of the deaths on the list provided to The Oklahoman by the Corrections Department were described as “pending,” most of them occurring within the last year or so.

In fact, Corrections Department records show that 11 of the 53 documented inmate deaths this year are listed as “pending.”

Since the start of 2010, prison system documents show that seven inmates' deaths were described as accidental, while just one inmate died under mysterious circumstances.

The manner of the death for Jimmy Gilbert, who died Aug. 9, 2011, at the Lexington Assessment and Reception Center, is listed as “unknown.”

Gilbert was 48, according to a death notice in The Oklahoman three days after he died.

In 2010, only 63 inmates died in the Corrections Department's custody.

The next year, in 2011, another 89 would die while behind bars, records show.

So far this year, there have been 53 inmate deaths.

The last to die was Michael Hooper, who was executed Aug. 14 for murdering a mother and her two children in 1993.

Aging inmates

Prison records show that in-custody deaths could rise in the future as more and more inmates grow into their advanced years while behind bars.