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Died in prison

Christopher Tignor

29 years old · died September 12, 2015 · Cimarron Correctional Facility, Payne County, Oklahoma

Christopher Tignor, 29, died on September 12, 2015, at the privately run Cimarron Correctional Facility in Cushing, Oklahoma, where he was held. The Oklahoma Department of Corrections said he was one of four men killed in a violent altercation that also injured three others, and prosecutors later described the four deaths as stabbings during a prison-gang fight. A civil suit filed by a relative of another dead man says a single officer radioed that a fight seemed about to start and that no other guards responded until after it ended. The state has not released its investigative report, and the families' civil lawsuits against CoreCivic, the facility's owner, were still pending in 2018. Charges filed in 2017 against other men held there were later dropped for insufficient evidence.

Cause of death, as reported: Killed by another person in custody (disputed; neglect alleged). Prosecutors say Tignor was stabbed to death in a gang fight with other prisoners, but a civil suit by a relative of another dead man says a single officer radioed that a fight seemed about to start and no other guards responded until after it ended.

Reported by: Oklahoma Department of Corrections (the agency that held him); Payne County District Attorney Laura Austin Thomas; court records and documents in a civil suit; family of another man who died, in a civil suit (family or their lawyers).

Lawsuit: Families of the dead men filed civil lawsuits against CoreCivic, the prison's owner, which were still pending in 2018, and no payment amount has been reported.

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