Prison officials report another inmate death

Nevada prison officials reported the second inmate death of the week Thursday.

Michael Johnson, 55, was in the Northern Nevada Correctional Center’s Regional Medical Center being treated for an undisclosed medical condition when he died Wednesday.

Johnson was convicted of second-degree murder by a Churchill County court and sentenced to 10 years to life in prison.

An autopsy has been ordered.

Inmate John Jennings also died Wednesday. He was in Valley Hospital at the time, also for an undisclosed medical condition.

Jennings, 59, was serving life in prison for sexual assault and lewdness with a child under age 14.

No foul play is suspected in either death.

There has been a number of complaints about the seemingly large number of inmate deaths in the past few months.

The reason is that the prison system is now required to report inmate deaths. In the past, it was only required to report to the next of kin unless there was evidence of foul play. According to the department, there were fewer inmate deaths in 2013.

The two this week bring the total to 33. There were 42 in 2010, 38 in 2011 and 40 in 2012.