Goose Creek inmate’s death pushes Alaska past 2023 inmate toll

Goose Creek Correctional Center connected Nov. 1, 2011. (Ellen Lockyer/Alaska Public Media)

The number of Alaska situation inmate deaths truthful acold this twelvemonth has surpassed past year’s toll, aft nan decease of an inmate successful nan Mat-Su Borough complete nan weekend.

According to an Alaska Department of Corrections statement, 70-year-old Freddie Lee Fox died Sunday evening. Court records show Fox had been held astatine nan Goose Creek Correctional Center since 2020 awaiting proceedings connected arson, battle and execution charges, aft he allegedly started a occurrence successful Anchorage that near 1 personification dead.

Questions sent to nan section astir Fox’s decease weren’t instantly answered Tuesday afternoon.

No foul play is suspected, according to nan statement, which said nan authorities aesculapian examiner’s agency will find nan origin of Fox’s death.

Fox is nan eleventh inmate to dice successful authorities custody this year, aft 10 specified deaths past year. The authorities matched 2023’s inmate deaths arsenic 2 men died successful precocious June, amid ongoing scrutiny from nan American Civil Liberties Union of Alaska.

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Both this year’s toll and past year’s stay beneath that successful 2022, erstwhile the authorities saw 18 inmates die successful its custody, nan astir connected record.