By the numbers: A look at who has died of coronavirus in California prisons

OAKLAND, Calif. - Since the coronavirus outbreak began in mid-March, a total of 53 incarcerated people and one prison sergeant have died of coronavirus.

That's the latest update on Aug. 10. 

As the prison population has dipped to 30-year lows to make more room for social distancing in crowded facilities, activists are still pushing for more incarcerated people to be let out, arguing that a criminal sentence shouldn't also be a death sentence. 

Here is a look at who has died by the numbers: 

• As of Aug. 10, 53 people have died of coronavirus throughout the California state prison system. The majority of deaths have stemmed from two prisons: 25 people have died at San Quentin in Marin County and 19 people have died at the California Institution for Men in Chino. 
• Five people at San Quentin were pronounced dead in Marin County, but the others died in hospitals in San Francisco, San Mateo and Alameda counties.  
• The average age was 63, according to Michael Bien, co-founding partner of Rosen Bien Galvan & Grunfeld, who is privy to particular statistics on COVID-19 deaths because of his class-action suit against the prison system. 
• A total of 71% of those incarcerated who died of COVID-19 were people of color. Forty-three percent were Latino and 16% were Black. 
• Forty-five percent of those who died of coronavirus had a psychiatric disability.
• A total of 53% of the incarcerated population who died of coronavirus had some sort of cognitive and/or physical disability such as hearing or vision loss.
• Seventy percent had both a psychiatric disability, as well as a cognitive and/or physical disability. 
• A total of 84% of those who died of coronavirus had a low reoffending risk rate score. 
• Eleven incarcerated people who died of coronavirus would have been eligible for parole this year or in 2021. 
• At least 94% of the incarcerated people who died of coronavirus had another pre-existing health condition or they were older than 65. 
• Roughly 102,450 people are being held in prison facilities, which have a capacity to hold 89,660, according to the California Department of Corrections' weekly report.  Even with prisoners being released during coronavirus, the system is 114% occupied. 
• Since mid-March, when coronavirus was first reported widely in the Bay Area, the prison system has declined by 14,550. 

The Marshall Project has been tracking the number of prisoners across the country who have died of coronavirus. The first known COVID-19 death of a prisoner was in Georgia when Anthony Cheek died on March 26. Since then, at least 765 other prisoners have died of coronavirus-related causes. By July 28, the total number of deaths had risen by 7 percent in a week, the Marshall Project reported. 

The Texas prison system has had the most deaths, followed by Ohio, Michigan, New Jersey and California. 

The California Department of Corrections has not been identifying any incarcerated people who have died of coronavirus, except for those on Death Row, where the agency blasts out the person's name, crime and mug shot. A First Amendment lawyer says this violates California law; all the incarcerated people should be identified after death. 

Below is a summary of what has been made public by the prison system and other news reporting.

Melford Henson, 65, died of coronavirus on May 6 at the California Institution for Men in Chino. Henson was classified as a Level 1 prisoner, the lowest security level in the system, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. 

In March 2019, Mr. Henson was sentenced to 32 months in prison for driving under the influence and sent to San Quentin State Prison before being moved to the California Institution for Men. His family told the New York Times he had previous arrests and was driving without a license when he was arrested.

Henson was born on Nov. 10, 1954, in Riverside. His mother, Evelyn (Brooks) Henson, and his father raised him in Rialto, Calif. After high school, he worked in construction before becoming a foreman on projects building low-power Christian television stations, the New York Times reported.

His health had been poor for years — heart attacks, hepatitis C — and a prison official had already discussed Henson serving the last few months of his sentence on home detention, the Chronicle reported. If all went to plan, he would wear an ankle bracelet and live with his wife, Tracy Henson, at her apartment in Portola.

Carlos Oropeza Canez, 60, died of coronavirus at Avenal State Prison on June 20. He was born in Bakersfield, the youngest of 11 children, the LA Times reported. 

Canez was charismatic, his family said, and he loved baseball, Soul Train and was voted "Best Dressed" in high schools.

In 1998, he was high when he killed two people: His passenger and a woman in another car. He was convicted of second-degree murder and sentenced to two consecutive 15-year sentences, the LA Times reported. 

Canez his survived by his his many siblings, two grandchildren and his wife, Angie Jimenez Canez, who wrote on his online obituary that he was the love of her life. 

"Carlos was the type of man that would take the shirt off his back for anyone," she wrote. 

Richard Stitely, 71, died of coronavirus on June 24 at San Quentin. Stitely was sentenced to death in Los Angeles County for the 1990 rape and murder of Carol Unger, 47, last seen leaving a bar in Reseda with him. 

Joseph S. Cordova, 75, died of coronavirus on July 1 at San Quentin. Cordova was sentenced to death in Contra Costa County on May 11, 2007, for the rape and murder of eight-year-old Cannie Melinda Bullock in San Pablo. On Aug. 24, 1979, her mother had left her home alone that night. Her body was found in the backyard the next morning. In 2002, investigators matched DNA from the crime scene to Cordova. He was serving a prison sentence in Colorado for child molestation. Cordova had been on Death Row since May 22, 2007.

Scott Thomas Erskine, 57, died of coronavirus on July 3 at San Quentin. He had been on Death Row since 2004 after being convicted for killing 13-year-old Charles (Charlie) Keever and 9-year-old Jonathon Sellers rode their bicycles to the Otay Riverbed area in San Diego in 1993. Erskine technically died at San Leandro hospital; his body was taken to Alameda County. 

Manuel Machado Alvarez, 59, died of coronavirus on July 3 at San Quentin. He had been on Death Row since 1989 after raping a woman in 1987, stealing a car, knocking a 78-year-old woman unconscious and killing a 35-year-old man while trying to rob him in Sacramento County.

Joaquin Diaz, 79, died July 5 at San Quentin. He technically died at San Leandro Hospital; his body was taken to Alameda County. 

Gerald Johnson, 63, died July 5 at Seton Medical Center while incarcerated at San Quentin. His body was taken to San Mateo County. 

David Reed, 60, died of coronavirus on July 7 at San Quentin. He had been on Death Row since 2011 after being convicted of first-degree murder with use of a deadly weapon and second-degree robbery in Riverside County.

Francisco Ramirez, 76, died July 11 at Seton Medical Center while incarcerated at San Quentin. His body was taken to San Mateo County. 

Darrell Gautt, 66, died July 12 at San Quentin. He technically died at San Leandro Hospital; his body was taken to Alameda County. 

John Stevens, 72, died of coronavirus on July 14 at San Quentin. No more information was provided. 

Jeffrey J. Hawkins, 64, died of coronavirus on July 15 at San Quentin. Hawkins was committed to CDCR on Feb. 9, 1990, as a condemned inmate from Sacramento County for two counts of first-degree murder with use of a firearm, and attempted first-degree murder with use of a firearm inflicting great bodily injury. He technically died at Highland Hospital; his body was taken to Alameda County. 

Troy A. Ashmus, 58, died of coronavirus on July 20 at San Quentin. Ashmus was admitted to state prison from Sacramento County on Sept. 18, 1985, to serve a six-year sentence for assault with intent to commit a specific sex crime. While incarcerated, he was sentenced to death on July 25, 1986, by a Sacramento County jury for first-degree murder, forcible rape, sodomy with a victim under 14 years old with force/violence, and lewd and lascivious acts on a child under 14 with force/violence. He had been on Death Row since Sept. 1, 1986. His body was taken to San Mateo County. 

John M. Beames, 67, died of coronavirus on July 21 at San Quentin. Beames was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to death in Tulare County on Oct. 11, 1995. He had been on Death Row since Nov. 7, 1995.

Siverin Whitney, 68, died of coronavirus on July 24 at San Quentin, per a death notice posted in the Patch. A January 2018 edition of the San Quentin News featured a photo of Whitney receiving his Criminals and Gangmembers Anonymous certificate for completing courses teaching about lifestyles free of criminal activity and violence. His body was taken to San Mateo County. 

Eric William Warner, 57, died July 25 of coronavirus at San Quentin, per a death notice posted in the Patch. Warner was originally sentenced to 100 years to life in prison under the Three Strikes Law, but his second-degree murder conviction in San Mateo County was later reduced to voluntary manslaughter and he was resentenced to 55 years to life. San Mateo prosecutors in 1999 charged him with murder, alleging he shot someone “point blank” over a $10 debt while watching a boxing match inside a home where he rented a room with his mother, Bay Area News Group reported.  His body was taken to San Mateo County. 

Joseph C. Townsel, 60, died July 25 of coronavirus at San Quentin.  His body was taken to San Mateo County. 

Johnny Avila Jr., 62, died of coronavirus on July 26 at San Quentin.  Avila was sentenced to death in Fresno County on March 21, 1996, for two counts of first-degree murder. He had been on Death Row since March 31, 1995. 

Ralph Ruiz, 69, died Aug. 2 at San Quentin. He technically died at San Leandro Hospital; his body was taken to Alameda County. 

Orlando G. Romero, 48, died Aug. 2 at San Quentin. Romero was sentenced to death in Riverside County on Aug. 28, 1996, for first-degree murder and second-degree robbery while armed with a firearm.  

Anne Wandersee told KTVU that she knew Romero long before he was convicted and he was a very good friend.

"He had a lot of good friends who knew and cared about him," she said.

He grew up in Perris, Calif., and most of his family is in Southern California. 

She said it was a shame that the inmates from Chino were transferred to San Quentin in May, which caused the virus to spread in the Marin County facility and result in nearly two dozen deaths. 

"He always took very good care of himself and always remained healthy given that he was at San Quentin," she said. "Had it not been for the transfer of 121 inmates from Chino to San Quentin he and others would be here today."

Kory Saunders, 40, died Aug. 3 at Seton Medical Center while incarcerated at San Quentin. His body was taken to San Mateo County. 

Alan Beisel, 74, died on Aug. 6 at Seton Medical Center while incarcerated at San Quentin. His body was taken to San Mateo County. 

San Quentin inmate Pedro Arias, 58, died of coronavirus on Aug. 9. Arias was sentenced to death in Sacramento County on Feb. 22, 1990, for first-degree murder and second-degree robbery while armed with a firearm. He was also sentenced to life without parole for kidnapping for ransom, penetration with a foreign object, attempted sodomy, lewd and lascivious acts on a child under 14, sodomy of a child under 14, two counts of forcible rape, second-degree robbery and enhancements for the use of a firearm. He has been on Death Row since March 5, 1990.

San Quentin Sgt. Gilbert Polanco, 55,  died of coronavirus on Aug. 9.  He was a San Jose native who had wanted to become a prison guard after passing San Quentin on a ferry ride in middle school. His son believes he contracted the virus during the botched transfer from Chino to San Quentin. 

Lisa Fernandez is a reporter for KTVU. Email Lisa at lisa.fernandez@foxtv.com or call her at 510-874-0139. Or follow her on Twitter @ljfernandez 

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