June 15, 2021

The Texas Department of Criminal Justice regrets to inform you of the death of three inmates connected to the coronavirus.

69-year old Paul Wayne Leone died January 19, 2021, at a local hospital in Wichita Falls. He was transported from the Allred Unit in Iowa Park on January 3, 2021. Offender Leone tested positive for COVID-19 on January 1, 2021. Final autopsy results indicate that in addition to pre-existing medical conditions, COVID-19 was the immediate cause of his death. He had served 25 years on a life sentence out of Harris County.

59-year old James Clayton Brooks died January 15, 2021, at a local hospital in Lubbock. He was transported from the Smith Unit in Lamesa on January 7, 2021. Offender Brooks tested positive for COVID-19 on January 8, 2021. Final autopsy results indicate that in addition to pre-existing medical conditions, COVID-19 was the immediate cause of his death. He had served over 2 years on a 10-year sentence out of Chambers County.

71-year old Miguel Fuentes died December 15, 2020, at a local hospital in Lubbock. He was transported from the Rudd Unit in Brownfield on November 15, 2020. Offender Fuentes tested positive for COVID-19 on November 15, 2020. Final autopsy results indicate that in addition to pre-existing medical conditions, COVID-19 was the immediate cause of his death. He had served over 17 years on an 18-year sentence out of El Paso County.

In total there have been 567,217 inmate and 246,868 employee tests conducted for COVID-19. Of those tested, 34,690 inmates and 11,788 staff have tested positive for COVID-19 in both symptomatic and asymptomatic testing. There have been 33,254 inmates and 11,441 employees who have recovered. There have been 259 possible COVID deaths in TDCJ (56 of those still under investigation). There have been 48 employee line of duty deaths from COVID-19.

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Helpful Links:

Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS) - News Updates COVID-19 Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS) - Texas Case Counts Map Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)- Coronavirus (COVID-19) CDC Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) - World Map Facebook Instagram Twitter YouTube