An inmate at the state correctional facility in Rush City, Minn., is dead and authorities say his death may have been a homicide.
Inmate dies in Rush City prison, cellmate arrested
It's first such killing since 2013; suspect was due to be released in May.
March 22, 2021 at 4:56PM
Corrections officers found James Francis Howard in his cell suffering from injuries to his face and head while doing rounds about 11:30 p.m. Sunday. They entered the cell and performed lifesaving measures until paramedics arrived. But Howard, 56, was pronounced dead about 50 minutes later, a statement from the Minnesota Department of Corrections said.
Howard's cellmate, a 29-year-old man, was arrested.
"The death is being investigated as a possible homicide," the statement said.
Howard and the suspect shared a cell in a temporary housing unit, which means they were not actively engaged in employment or programming.
Howard was serving a second-degree murder sentence for using a machete with an 18-inch blade to attack his 68-year-old mother in April 2011 in the home they shared on Stalker Lake near Dalton, about 20 miles southeast of Fergus Falls.
Barbara Howard suffered a skull fracture on the left side of her head and several of her fingers were nearly severed as she tried to block the machete swipes. She died two weeks later, on Mother's Day, court records show.
At the time, James Howard told paramedics that he was trying to end his mother's pain from cancer and diabetes, the criminal complaint said.
Howard started his sentence in September 2012 and was due for release in May 2034.
His cellmate, whose name has not been released, was serving two sentences for assault and due to be released May 17, the corrections department said.
The last time an inmate died following an altercation with another inmate happened in 2013 at the Oak Park Heights facility.
Investigators from the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, the Chisago County Sheriff and the Department of Corrections' Office of Special Investigations are looking into the death.
No further information was immediately available.
The Rush City high-security facility opened in 2000 and houses up to 1,000 men.
Tim Harlow • 612-673-7768
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