Michael Williams

Michael Williams, 69, died of COVID-19 while held at the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola in May 2020, according to autopsy and prison records that WAFB-TV reviewed. His son, Kevin Cooks, said he was afraid he would die inside the prison, and his sister Terry Rogers spoke with him every Sunday night; he had suffered a stroke in 2019 and walked with a cane. His family, as reported by ProPublica, says he was sick for several days and struggled to breathe, and that calls to the prison for a hospital transfer got little response, with a senior guard officer telling a relative he did not have the virus. He was taken to a Baton Rouge hospital in critical condition and later went into cardiac arrest; the article does not confirm that his illness was COVID-19.

Cause of death, as reported: Died of illness (neglect alleged). The autopsy and prison records reviewed by WAFB-TV tie his death to COVID-19, while his family says calls to the prison for a hospital transfer got little response and a senior guard officer told a relative he did not have the virus.

Reported by: autopsy; WAFB-TV (reporters); Incarceration Transparency (advocates); his family.

Sources (3)

• Incarceration Transparency, Loyola University New Orleans College of Law, Louisiana Deaths Behind Bars Incarceration Transparency, Loyola University New Orleans College of Law, deaths behind bars
• Inside the U.S.’s Largest Maximum-Security Prison, COVID-19 Raged. Outside, Officials Called Their Fight a Success. ProPublica, June 24, 2020
• 11 Angola ‘lifers’ have died of COVID-19 since pandemic began WAFB, July 16, 2020