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The Norfolk County District Attorney’s office has identified the three men who recently died within a one-month span while incarcerated at the Massachusetts Correctional Institution at Norfolk. Their identities, released Thursday, are: Christopher Stiles, age 36, who died on Sept. 20 Robert McNickles, age 73, who died on Sept. 27 John Rodriguez, age 65, who died on Oct. 20 The three deaths at MCI-Norfolk — the state’s largest medium-security prison housing men serving criminal sentences — are in addition to two others that also occurred over the last month or so at Souza-Baranowski Correctional Center in Lancaster, a maximum-security prison. Joseph Eaton, 36, was identified Wednesday by the Worcester District Attorney’s Office as the man who died at Souza-Baranowski on Oct. 28. Eaton, originally from Maine, was serving a life sentence for killing his parents and their two friends in Bowdoin, Maine, in 2023. He then carried out a shooting spree on Interstate 295 in Yarmouth. Another man, who has not yet been identified, died on Oct. 3 at Souza-Baranowski. Read more: 5th Mass. prison system death reported in just over 1 month The state Department of Correction has only categorized the five deaths as “medical emergencies” where lifesaving measures were administered by staff and first responders. None are believed to involve foul play, the DOC said. The department is committed to “comprehensive mental health and substance use services,” a department spokesperson said in a statement. The DOC did not respond to MassLive’s request to explain the context of the deaths that occurred within such a short timeframe. According to DOC death records obtained by MassLive, there have been 20 total deaths of people incarcerated in the state’s prisons this year. There were 19 in-custody deaths in 2024, 21 in 2023 and 28 in 2022, according to the DOC documents. Based on the official causes of death the DOC has received from the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner so far this year, through June 15, three are listed as suicides. Five are listed as “unexpected.” In 2024, there weren’t any confirmed suicides, but 10 deaths were listed as “unexpected.” Two were homicides. The five recent deaths are meriting attention and concern from advocates, Dr. Alice Bukhman, an emergency medicine physician and Harvard Medical School associate professor affiliated with the nonprofit Prisoners’ Legal Services, said in an interview this week. “The main thing that is concerning is how little we do know,” Bukhman said. “It is a pattern that is super concerning. These are supposed to be people who are being closely watched, and we do not expect them to die. One of the issues is it’s really hard to get data out of these. All of these should go to a medical examiner, so we don’t know the cause of death right now.” Per Massachusetts state law, all in-custody deaths must be referred to the state medical examiner. A spokesperson for the Norfolk County District Attorney’s Office said the three deaths at MCI-Norfolk remain under investigation by the DOC, State Police assigned to the DA’s office and the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner. The deaths at Souza-Baranowski are under investigation by the Worcester District Attorney’s Office. Reporter Irene Rotondo contributed to this story.
