Two inmates had died within hours at separate detention facilities in Jefferson County, Alabama prompting authorities to launch an investigation.
Sandra Franks Hawkins was first to suddenly die Sunday night while sleeping in her bed at the Birmingham Women’s Community Based Facility and Community Work Center.
The 44-year-old woman was serving a 20-year sentence in relation to a 2014 burglary charge.
She was rushed to the UAB Hospital for treatment but passed away shortly later.
The second inmate, 68-year-old Shelton Lorenz Foster, died the following afternoon at the same hospital.
He was convicted of murder in 2018 and had since been incarcerated at the Bessemer’s William Donaldson Correctional Facility.
In Donaldson’s case, officials had sought to transfer him to the hospital on Oct. 13 over “multiple significant natural diseases.”
The Jefferson County Coroner’s Office is probing the deaths with the assistance of the Alabama Department of Corrections.
