Man killed by coronavirus in prison had ‘served 30 years for a crime he did not commit’: PA Innocence Project

Public health experts have warned that incarcerated individuals are among those most at risk from the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic.

The Pennsylvania Innocence Project announced on Tuesday that authorities have identified the first person to die from coronavirus inside one of the state's prisons.

The organization, which seeks to exonerate those they believe have been wrongly convicted, had been representing the victim.

Rudolph Sutton, 67, died as an inmate at SCI-Phoenix in Montgomery County.

Nilam Sanghvi, Legal Director of the Pennsylvania Innocence Project, blasted Pennsylvania for Sutton's death.

“Mr. Sutton should never have been incarcerated in the first place,” Sanghvi said.

“As an innocent man who served 30 years for a crime he did not commit, his tragic death underscores the urgent need for the Governor, the Department of Corrections, the legislature, and the courts to act quickly so that another factually innocent person does not risk death in prison due to COVID-19," Sanghvi said.