Michigan inmate found dead in prison cell; police open homicide investigation

Michigan State Police have opened a homicide investigation following the death of a Michigan inmate. 

The Michigan Department of Corrections says Joshua McGehee, 40, was found unresponsive in his cell at Bellamy Creek Correctional Facility in Ionia on March 27. 

Corrections staff attempted life-saving measures but were unsuccessful, according to the MDOC. He was pronounced dead at the scene by paramedics.

An MDOC spokesperson says the incident is being investigated as a homicide, and MSP and the MDOC are working with the Ionia County Prosecutor's Office. 

McGehee was serving up to 25 years in prison after pleading no contest in a robbery case in July 2020 in Macomb County, according to state prison records. 

McGehee was the second inmate found dead in a Michigan prison last week, after Jarvis Butts was found dead in his cell on March 26. Butts was sentenced on March 12 for the murder of missing 13-year-old Na'Ziyah Harris. Authorities say Butts' death is being investigated as a suicide.