Coronavirus: Prisoner who served 44 years dies of virus days before release

'He was looking forward to getting out' Garrison's sister says

A man who spent 44 years in prison for murder has died of coronavirus just 24 days before his planned release from prison, reports say.

60-year-old William Garrison passed away suddenly in his cell on 13 April, it was discovered afterward that he had contracted the novel coronavirus.

Garrison was convicted of murder in 1976 for shooting a 50-year-old man during a home-invasion robbery, according to ABC News.

His bunk mate reportedly found him gasping for air in their two-person cell at the Macomb Correctional Facility in Lenox Township, a prison spokesperson told the broadcaster.

“He was looking forward to getting out,” Garrison’s sister, Yolanda Peterson, told ABC News.

“He wanted to work as an advocate for people in jail. He was a very knowledgeable person. He had a lot going on. He helped a lot of prisoners, reviewing their cases. He got people out of jail.”

Chris Gautz, spokesman for the Michigan Department of Corrections told ABC News that Garrison had originally turned down the chance for early parole in Feburary, deciding to wait out the remainder of this sentence instead.

“What he told the board was, ‘I would rather stay in here until September and walk out a completely free man rather than walk out right now and be on parole and have to report to a parole agent and have to go through all that,’” Mr Gautz told the outlet.

As the coronavirus pandemic hit the US and officials began to fear that prisons would become breeding grounds for the disease, prisons began granting vulnerable prisoners early release.

Garrison was reportedly once again offered the chance of early parole on the basis of him being more vulnerable as an elderly prisoner and this time accepted the offer.

He was due to be released on 6 May, Mr Gautz said.

“It speaks to the insidious nature of this virus that some people can have no symptoms at all and all of a sudden, just like that, they’re having these issues,” Gautz said. “It’s just very unfortunate.”

Michigan Department of Corrections did not immediately respond to request for comment.