An inmate at the state prison in Tucson died on Monday, officials said.
On December 12, staff at the Arizona State Prison Complex-Tucson discovered Joseph Harris, 46, unresponsive in his housing unit with what appeared to be a sheet around his neck, a news release from the state prison said.
Staff rendered aid to Harris and called 911. Tucson Fire personnel arrived at the unit shortly after and pronounced Harris dead, the news release said.
An investigation is being conducted by criminal investigators with the Arizona Department of Corrections Rehabilitation and Reentry.
Harris was taken into custody in 2015 after he was sentenced in Maricopa County for first-degree murder, the news release said.
Federal correctional officers staged a protest in response to an Associated Press investigation that exposed how the Bureau of Prisons repeatedly promoted an official who was accused of beating several Black inmates. The officers gathered in front of the Bureau of Prisons' regional office in Stockton, California. The picket comes as members of Congress, including the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, are demanding answers from the agency's director after AP's reporting on deputy regional director Thomas Ray Hinkle. Hinkle was repeatedly promoted, most recently to one of the highest posts in the agency. And this has happened despite his being accused of beating multiple Black inmates in the 1990s. Since then, people who know Hinkle say he has repeatedly boasted about the beatings and being part of a violent, racist group of officers that called themselves "The Cowboys." An Associated Press investigation has found the Bureau of Prisons has continued to promote Hinkle despite numerous red flags.
