Prayers Up: Roommates, we are sending our thoughts and prayers to the family of William Garrison, who lost his life to the coronavirus, just weeks before he was scheduled to be released from prison.
According to CNN, Garrison spent 44 years in prison for first-degree murder, and was scheduled to be released on parole in just a few weeks. Apparently, he unknowingly contracted COVID-19 during his last weeks behind bars, and passed away without even having any symptoms.
“He had not has any symptoms he reported to us, and our nursing staff had been going cell to cell, checking prisoners if they were ok, and he was fine,” Chris Gautz, a spokesperson for the department of corrections, said.
Garrison was sentenced at 16 years old, after a shooting during a 1976 armed robber, said Maria Miller, a spokesperson for the Wayne Country Prosecutor’s Office. The Department of Corrections reportedly “tried to parole him earlier this year, and he refused to leave prison,” Gautz said.
Garrison reportedly Sid he would rather wait until his maximum sentenced had been served so he wouldn’t have to be under an supervision in the form of parole when he was released.
“He did not want to be on parole, he wanted to wait and just walk out completely free from supervision in September,” Gautz said. “We came back to him and told him we would still like to parole him given his age and our concern with him getting the virus.”
The department reportedly asked the prosecutor’s office to waive the mandatory 28-day waiting period, but Garrison unfortunately passed away five days later, before the prosecutor’s office could respond.
He was reportedly tested for COVID-19 after he passed away,
“We did everything we could to get him out,” Gautz said.
Please keep his family in your prayers, Roomies.
