A 41-year-old inmate acting "abnormally" Sunday night was taken to a local hospital, where he died Monday morning, according to the Arkansas Department of Correction.
Jody Cook was the second state inmate to die in two days.
In a statement, department spokesman Solomon Graves said Cook was seen behaving strangely about 10 p.m. in his assigned barrack at the Varner Unit in Grady, which is about 23 miles southeast of Pine Bluff.
Cook was then sent to the prison's infirmary and later to an area hospital, where he was pronounced dead about 7:30 a.m. Monday, according to the agency.
He was serving a 35-year sentence after pleading guilty in 2007 to the rape of a 13-year-old girl in Miller County in 2004 and two counts of failure to appear in court, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette previously reported. Cook also admitted to faking a bridge jump at the time he faced charges in an effort to make it appear that he had died.
He also had two years added to his sentence in 2010 for possession of a weapon by an incarcerated person.
Graves said Arkansas State Police were immediately notified of Cook's death and will be conducting an investigation.
State police are also investigating the death of Isaiah Chandler, 25, who was found unresponsive in his cell at the Tucker Unit on Sunday morning.
Chandler, who was serving a 20-year sentence stemming from a 2009 aggravated-robbery conviction in Pulaski County, was taken to a hospital and later died, according to a news release from the corrections department.
Metro on 08/09/2016