Farron Barksdale
Farron Barksdale was held at Kilby Correctional Facility in Montgomery, Alabama, and was found comatose in his cell in August 2007. He died about ten days later at a hospital, and the Department of Corrections said an autopsy found complications from heat stroke and pneumonia and called the death natural. Corrections officials had asked for the autopsy because the cause of the coma was unknown. An inmate who had shared his cell block at Hollman Prison wrote to a circuit judge alleging that guards beat him, forced him into a cell, and missed him at count until it was too late. The letter's account has not been independently confirmed, and a grand jury was reported to have found no evidence of criminal activity, while the department was reported to be resisting release of his medical records.
Cause of death, as reported: Died of illness (disputed; neglect alleged). The Department of Corrections says complications from heat stroke and pneumonia caused his death, but an inmate who shared his cell block alleges in a letter to a judge that guards beat him and missed him at count until it was too late.
Reported by: Alabama Department of Corrections (the agency that held him); autopsy; an inmate who shared his cell block.