7:55 P.M. WEDNESDAY UPDATE:
An Arkansas prison inmate has died a day after being hospitalized for a head injury, the state prison agency said.
In a news release, the Department of Correction said 34-year-old James Walker was pronounced dead at a hospital shortly after 12:30 p.m. Wednesday.
Walker was taken by ambulance from the Cummins Unit in Grady to a nearby hospital about 11:40 a.m. Tuesday "after an incident" at the prison, spokesman Solomon Graves said.
The department had previously reported that it was unknown whether the inmate's head injury resulted from a fall or an attack.
Records show Walker was taken to the Cummins Unit in April 2008 after being found guilty by a Faulkner County jury on charges stemming from an April 13, 2007, armed heist at a bank in Greenbrier.
Walker was sentenced to 85 years in prison on three counts of kidnapping as well as one count each of aggravated robbery, attempted capital murder, aggravated assault, theft of property, felony fleeing and misdemeanor fleeing.
The Arkansas State Police is investigating the death, and the Correction Department is also conducting an internal investigation.
TUESDAY STORY:
An inmate at a prison in Arkansas was hospitalized Tuesday morning for treatment of a head injury, according to the state Department of Correction.
Agency spokesman Solomon Graves said James Walker, 34, was taken by ambulance from the Cummins Unit in Grady to a nearby hospital around 11:40 a.m.
The cause and extent of Walker’s injury were not immediately known.
"It is unclear at this time whether or not inmate's Walker's injury was the result of a fall or the result of an assault," Graves said in a statement.
Records show Walker was taken to the Cummins Unit in April 2008 after being found guilty by a Faulkner County jury on charges stemming from an April 13, 2007, armed heist at a bank in Greenbrier.
Walker was sentenced to 85 years in prison on three counts of kidnapping as well as one count each of aggravated robbery, attempted capital murder, aggravated assault, theft of property, felony fleeing and misdemeanor fleeing.
Jurors also convicted another man, 41-year-old Cornelius Paige, in the armed robbery at First Arkansas Bank and Trust.
The Arkansas State Police has been notified of Walker’s injury and will be conducting an investigation, according to the Correction Department. An internal investigation is also ongoing.