State officials are probing the death of a prisoner at the New Hampshire State Prison for Men in Concord, triggering an inquiry into the circumstances surrounding an incident that ended with no resuscitation efforts for the individual, as officials confirmed the presence of a do not resuscitate order in the inmate's record. The Department of Corrections first became aware of the dire situation shortly after midnight when corrections officers found the inmate unresponsive, according to Boston 25 News. Immediate medical protocols were initiated, which included administering CPR and deploying an AED.
The life-saving interventions were suspended once the DNR order was verified, leading to a cessation of all attempts to revive the prisoner. The cause of death has not been proclaimed suspicious; nevertheless, all aspects relating to the incident are currently under review. The New Hampshire Department of Justice Office of the Attorney General, alongside the Merrimack County Attorney’s Office, has been informed in step with standard procedure. The department is withholding the name of the deceased until family members are notified, and an autopsy is pending for Tuesday.
Additional context to the prison's operational struggles emerged from a report by The Boston Globe, highlighting a significant staff shortage which led to the deployment of the National Guard for a three-month period to assist in maintaining prison operations last year. The situation at the facility has been compounded by a recent incident in February, where a corrections officer was charged with the murder of a patient at the Secure Psychiatric Unit, which is on the same campus as the state prison.
The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner is scheduled to conduct an autopsy tomorrow at 9 a.m. to determine the exact cause of death. Corrections officials ceased their attempts to revive the inmate upon verifying the DNR directive and pledged to release more information following the completion of the autopsy and notification of the inmate's kin. The investigation by state officials into the death at New Hampshire's primary correctional facility for men continues, aiming to provide clarity on the circumstances leading to the inmate's death.
