Michael Dodgens
Michael Dodgens was held at Mansfield Correctional Institution in Ohio. Richland County prosecutors said he was standing up to violence in the prison and did not deserve what happened to him. In August 2017, another man held there struck him in the head and neck, a blow prosecutors said separated two vertebrae in his neck, and he was taken to hospitals and pronounced dead the next day. A jury later found that other man guilty of murder in his death, and witnesses at trial described retaliation risks inside the prison. The Ohio State Highway Patrol investigated the attack when it was first reported.
Cause of death, as reported: Killed by another person in custody. Richland County prosecutors say another inmate struck Dodgens in the neck at Mansfield Correctional Institution in August 2017, and a jury convicted that inmate of murder.
Reported by: Richland County prosecutors; Ohio State Highway Patrol (outside investigators); jury; witnesses.