A spokesperson for the Alabama Department of Corrections said Friday that a man incarcerated at Donaldson Correctional Facility was killed Wednesday after an altercation with another incarcerated individual.
Mitchell Cosby, 41, was serving a life sentence at Donaldson Correctional Facility for a murder committed in Jefferson County, according to ADOC.
On Thursday, Cosby was involved in an “inmate-on-inmate” assault involving a weapon, the spokesperson said Friday. A helicopter life flight to UAB Hospital in Birmingham was called for due to the severity of Cosby’s injuries but arrived too late, according to ADOC. Cosby succumbed to his injuries and perished on Wednesday.
The ADOC spokesperson said that the ADOC Law Enforcement Services Division was “thoroughly investigating the incident,” with more information to be made available at the conclusion of the investigation.
According to ADOC data and the Equal Justice Initiative, Cosby is the fourth incarcerated person killed at Donaldson Correction Facility over the last four months.
In May, two correctional officers who worked at Donaldson Correctional Facility were arrested and charged in connection with the death of Jason Kirkland, 27, who died after being stuck in the door of his cell.
John Eddie Rodgers and Latasha Patrice Terrell were both charged with criminally negligent homicide for the death of Kirkland, who died in 2021.
According to the ongoing lawsuit filed by the U.S. Department of Justice, overcapacity and a lack of correctional staff in Alabama correctional facilities are leading causes of violence among incarcerated individuals.
The latest statistics provided by the Alabama Department of Corrections show Donaldson is 149.7 percent over capacity, housing 1,449 incarcerated individuals in a facility designed to hold 968.
