4th Minnesota prison inmate dies after contracting COVID-19

OAK PARK HEIGHTS, Minn. (FOX 9) - A 73-year-old inmate at the state prison in Oak Park Heights, Minnesota has died after contracting COVID-19. 

The man died Sunday at the University of Minnesota Medical Center. He tested positive for COVID-19 while receiving treatment for terminal cancer, although it is not known where he contracted the disease, according to the Minnesota Department of Corrections. 

To date, 2,794 inmates in the state prison system have tested positive for COVID-19 and four have died, according to the DOC’s COVID-19 dashboard. This is the first COVID-19-related inmate death at the Oak Park Heights prison. 

DOC said two other inmates in the state prison system are currently on ventilators at outside hospitals.