The Bent County coroner on Monday identified the two people who died inside the Bent County Correctional Facility over the weekend, as state prison officials continued to withhold details about the incident that prompted a statewide suspension of prison visitation.
Charles Gates, 27, and Michael Fisher, 59, died at the medium-security prison, Coroner Jason Nichols said Monday. He declined to release the causes and manners of their death, pending an autopsy that is scheduled for Wednesday and toxicology results which could take up to 10 weeks.
A third prisoner was reportedly injured and taken to a hospital Saturday. Their condition as of Monday was not immediately known.
Officials with the Colorado Department of Corrections have yet to release details on what happened Saturday inside the private prison, about 85 miles east of Pueblo. Alonda Gonzalez, a spokesperson, did not respond to a list of questions Monday morning.
Brian Todd, a spokesperson for CoreCivic which owns and runs the prison, directed all questions to the state corrections department.
Court and prison records show Gates was serving time in five separate cases, including burglary, assault, fraud and menacing. His longest sentence was nine years, for auto theft in 2023. Fisher was sentenced to life without parole in 1998 after he was convicted of first-degree murder in Adams County.
Bent County Sheriff Jake Six said he received a call from the prison at about 11:22 p.m. Saturday.
“They were just informing us of a miscount and anytime that happens, we secure the perimeter of the prison and check their fences, which is what we did,” Six said Monday.
“Every inmate was accounted for,” Six said, directing all questions regarding the inmates’ deaths to the Colorado Department of Corrections.
He was on the scene for about two hours, he added.
The inmates’ deaths Saturday prompted prison officials to temporarily bar visitation at all facilities, but lifted those restrictions Monday, the CDOC said in a statement at about 8:40 a.m. Visitation was suspended as a “precautionary decision intended to support department operations and maintain the safety and security” of the facilities.
The incident, which is under investigation, did not pose any known threat to surrounding communities, officials said.
Visits are still restricted at the Bent County Correctional Facility as officials continue its investigation.