A Northwest State Correctional Facility prisoner died Sunday after he suffered injuries in his cell, according to the Vermont State Police.
Kevin Atwood, 25, was hospitalized last week after an apparent suicide attempt, the Agency of Human Services reported Friday.
Correctional officers found Atwood unresponsive in his cell Thursday afternoon at the prison in Swanton and began performing CPR on him until emergency responders arrived. He was alone in his cell at the time of his injuries, according to officials.
Atwood died Sunday morning after he was taken off life support, state police announced.
The Vermont State Police continue to investigate the circumstances surrounding Atwood’s death. An internal AHS unit and the defender general’s office will also investigate the incident, and the Department of Corrections will conduct an internal review.
Atwood was facing a federal charge alleging he lied to investigators about his whereabouts at the time of a December fire in Northfield that left one person dead and one injured.
Three people — Tammy Wilder, Jonathan Zampieri and Howard Hoisington — pleaded not guilty in December to conspiracy to rob a Northfield couple of drugs and money.
Efren Serrano told investigators that three people came into his residence, doused him and his girlfriend with gasoline, and lit them on fire. Serrano was severely burned in the fire, and 22-year-old Brittany Burt was killed.
Several months later, Atwood was indicted by a grand jury on a charge alleging he lied to investigators about whether he knew Wilder and told law enforcement he was not in Northfield on the night of the fire.
Atwood pleaded not guilty to the federal charge in June.
After he was hospitalized, the case against him was dismissed without prejudice, a status that would allow charges to be brought again, according to papers filed in court Friday.
The U.S. Marshals Service and the Corrections Department consulted about Atwood and agreed “that the defendant’s dual status as a state prisoner in primary federal custody complicates decisions that may need to be made going forward,” according to a motion for dismissal filed by the U.S. attorney’s office. The dismissal meant Atwood was primarily in state custody while hospitalized, rather than federal custody.
Atwood was also serving sentences for several state offenses, including two counts of burglary, leaving the scene of an accident, felony possession of stolen property, and five violations of conditions of release, according to the AHS.
