Prisoner killed Sunday at Kansas correctional facility, KDOC reports

The death of a prisoner at Lansing Correctional Facility is being investigated as a homicide, according to the Kansas Department of Corrections.

Fred Patterson III, 56, was killed Sunday at the eastern Kansas prison, according to the department.

The “apparent” cause of death is homicide, KDOC said in a news release Sunday evening. The department said the results of an independent autopsy are pending.

Patterson entered Lansing on May 22 after violating parole, according to the release. He was incarcerated after being convicted in 2012 in Douglas County of one count of aggravated indecent liberties with a child older than 14 and younger than 16, and one county of aggravated indecent liberties with a child younger than 14.

As is standard, the prisoner’s death is under investigation by KDOC and the Kansas Bureau of Investigation, according to the release. No other information was immediately available.

Since the pandemic began, the prison has experienced an ongoing staffing shortage, which the Kansas Organization of State Employees has blamed in part for additional violence against correctional officers and prisoners in the last several months.