Second Iowa DOC inmate dies in less than a week

A second of two Iowa City Department of Corrections inmates has died within a matter of days, according to an announcement on kcrg.com. Both deaths are being investigated by departments of the state.



The Iowa Department of Corrections announced that a 21-year-old inmate died yesterday of heart disease, making him the second of two deaths from the Iowa Department of Corrections in only a few days.

Chantez Andrew Thornton was taken to the University of Iowa Hospitals a while ago to be treated for heart disease. The amount of time he spent in the hospital was unknown. He died on Friday.

The unofficial statement is that the death was related to heart disease, but medical investigations are ongoing about the direct cause of the death.

Thornton had been in the prison on a 10 year drug charge sentence. He had served a small amount of it before he was taken to the hospital, where he remained for treatments. He was going to be moved to another hospital, but he died before that could happen.

The first death was 32-year-old Christopher Servantez, who died Thursday evening of still unknown causes as well. A toxicology report is being done to find his cause of death. He was found in the cell, then taken to the hospital, where he died.

Servantez had only been in the jail for a day. He had been arrested on drug charges as well. His death is being investigated as well.

The direct causes of these two deaths are unknown, but they do not appear to be related.