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Died in prison

Michael Edwin Mayden Jr.

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

Michael Edwin Mayden Jr., 26, died on September 12, 2015, during a fight 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 who died of injuries from an attack involving about eight people, and that three others were hurt. Prosecutors said the four men were stabbed to death in a brief disturbance between rival prison gangs, and that the killings were largely off camera and hard to attribute to individuals. A civil suit filed by a relative of one of the dead men 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 estate's lawsuit against CoreCivic, the facility's owner, was still pending in 2018.

Cause of death, as reported: Killed by another person in custody (disputed; neglect alleged). Stab wounds in a gang fight are the cause; a civil suit by a relative of another man who died 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 (outside investigators); court records; a relative of one of the dead men in a civil suit.

Lawsuit: His estate sued CoreCivic, the prison's private owner, over his death, and the suit was still pending in 2018 with no settlement reported.

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