By Jonathan J. Cooper
Associated Press
Marcia Powell (AP photo) |
PHOENIX — An autopsy has been done on a state prison inmate who died after spending nearly four hours in the Arizona heat.
Officials with the Maricopa County Medical Examiner’s Office say results of Friday’s autopsy won’t be available for 45 to 90 days.
Forty-eight-year-old Marcia Powell died early Wednesday, about 10 hours after she collapsed in 103-degree heat in an outdoor, unshaded holding cell at a prison in Goodyear.
Department of Corrections Director Charles Ryan says Powell, who was serving a 27-month sentence for prostitution, was left in the cell nearly twice as long as she should have been.
He placed three officers on administrative leave pending a criminal investigation.
Ryan says Powell’s cell was 20 yards from a staffed control room.