Family sought for 60-year-old inmate who died at Donaldson Correctional Facility

Family sought for 60-year-old inmate who died at Donaldson Correctional Facility

Authorities are asking for the public’s help in finding family members for a state prison inmate who died in custody over the weekend.

Joseph Paul Mitchell, 60, was found unresponsive at 8:40 p.m. Sunday in a communal dormitory at William Donaldson Correctional Facility, according to the Jefferson County Coroner’s Office.

He was pronounced dead at 9:09 p.m. No foul play is suspected in his death.

Chief Deputy Coroner Bill Yates said coroner’s officials have not able to locate any of Mitchell’s family members to notify them of his death.

Yates said Mitchell was originally from Huntsville and still has family living in that area. His mother, Josie Fletcher Mitchell, was his emergency contact but she passed away in 2015.

Mitchell has two sisters, a brother and multiple nieces and nephews living in the Huntsville area, Yates said, but all attempts by local authorities to locate them have failed.

Michell was serving a life sentence for murder and robbery from a 1986 conviction out of Madison County.

Family members are asked to call the corner’s office at 205-930-3603.