Another Mississippi inmate dies; no foul play suspected

An inmate in Mississippi died Saturday, making him at least the 17th inmate in the state’s troubled prison system to have died in less than two months.

No foul play is suspected in the death of Bobby Lewis Vance, 54, the Mississippi Department of Corrections said in a news release.

Officials said Vance died at a hospital in Jackson. He had been housed at the Central Mississippi Correctional Facility in Rankin County.

Vance had received a 25-year sentence in 2004 for two armed robberies.

The cause and manner of Vance’s death are pending an autopsy. No additional details were released.

At least 17 Mississippi inmates have died since late December, most of them in outbursts of violence. Most of the deaths occurred at the Mississippi State Penitentiary at Parchman. Prison officials have attributed some of the violence to clashes between gangs.