Roy Chester Powell
Roy Chester Powell was a 16-year-old Black boy. He died on March 5, 1959, when a fire broke out in a dormitory at the state's reform school for Black boys in Wrightsville, Pulaski County, Arkansas, where he was held. He was one of 21 boys who died in the fire, and one account reports that the dormitory doors were locked from the outside. In 2019 the Arkansas Department of Correction dedicated a memorial listing each of their names. He is among those buried in Haven of Rest Cemetery in Little Rock.
Cause of death, as reported: Died in an accident (neglect alleged). The Arkansas Department of Correction describes the death as a dormitory fire, and reports say the doors were locked from the outside, so the boys could not get out.
Reported by: Arkansas Department of Correction (the agency that held him). The only account of how this person died comes from the agency that held him.