By Maddie Hanna
Concord Monitor
CONCORD, N.H. — An inmate was found dead in his cell at the state prison yesterday morning, and authorities are describing his death as untimely.
But prison officials yesterday provided few details about how Mark Paul Drouin, 48, of Berlin might have died. Guards discovered Drouin was unresponsive about 7:30 a.m. during the morning population count, according to prison spokesman Jeff Lyons. The chief medical examiner’s office will conduct an autopsy to determine the cause of death.
Drouin was serving a 15- to 30-year sentence for second-degree murder as well as a 7 1/2- to 15-year sentence for first-degree assault, both convictions out of Coos County. He had been in prison since 1993 and would have been eligible for parole in 2013.
Lyons would not comment on when Drouin was last seen alive but said guards conduct four checks a day, with the last usually happening about 11 p.m. Drouin was a medium-security inmate, meaning he was part of the prison’s general population and allowed to be out of his cell for most of the day if he chose, Lyons said. Most inmates in the general population have at least one cellmate, Lyons said.
Lyons said he did not know whether Drouin had any health conditions. He said the Department of Corrections and the state police will work with the medical examiner’s office in investigating Drouin’s death.
About six or seven inmates die each year in the state prison, most of natural causes, Lyons said.
Copyright 2010 Concord Monitor/Sunday Monitor