McALESTER — The state's oldest prison inmate died at age 100 on Thursday at McAlester's Oklahoma State Penitentiary, possibly from natural causes, officials said.
James Parker was found not breathing at 12:20 a.m. Thursday in the penitentiary's infirmary.
Oklahoma Department of Corrections records show Parker's date of birth as Nov. 7, 1909.
He was believed to be the state's only inmate age 100 or older, said Oklahoma Department of Corrections spokesman Jerry Massie.
Parker was serving a sentence of life without parole after being convicted of two counts of first-degree murder in the June 7, 1995, slayings of two women in Tullahassee, in Wagoner County.
Records indicate Parker was 87 at the time of his conviction.
He was known as "Pops" on the yard at the Dick Conner Correctional Center in Hominy, where he was held when interviewed by the Tulsa World in 2003.
Parker told the World the crime was an accident, adding that he didn't intend for anything to happen.
He said younger inmates "recognize me as an old father."
Read more from this Tulsa World article at http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?subjectid=12&articleid=20100708_12_0_McALES61302
Good riddance.......
I find it interesting that they called it from possibly from natural causes, officials said.
James Parker was found not breathing at 12:20 a.m. Thursday in the penitentiary's infirmary.
If they did not find a shiv in him I would say it was from "natural causes" when it comes to a 100 year old man.
Good riddance.To bad they didn't execute him.