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(From left to right, top to bottom) John Beames, 67, Jeffrey J. Hawkins, 64, Troy A. Ashmus, 58, David Reed, 60, Manuel Alvarez, 59, Scott Erskine, 57, Dewayne Carey, Richard E Stitely 71
CDCR
More than a dozen inmates have died at California’s San Quentin State Prison, including eight on death row, since June of COVID-19, the state department of corrections said this week.
Convicted murderer John Beames, 67, was the last inmate to die of complications from the coronavirus, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation said in a statement Wednesday.
Beames, who died Tuesday, had been under sentence of death since November 1995 after being convicted of killing a 15-month-old boy, according to CNN.
The killer’s sentence and conviction were upheld in 2007 by the state Supreme Court, which ruled that Beames was guilty of hitting Cassie McMains with such force that her liver nearly split in half and she bled to death, according to an Associated report. Press.
California’s oldest prison has experienced one of the worst COVID-19 outbreaks – the center reports 868 current cases and 15 deaths, according to reports.
Since the pandemic hit the prison, just under two-thirds of its 3,300 inmates have tested positive for the virus, according to reports.
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