SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) — A 79-year-old inmate died after being found unresponsive in his cell in the Jameson Annex of the South Dakota State Penitentiary on Sunday, according to a news release from the South Dakota Department of Corrections. 

DOC officials said Arvel Fields died on Sunday, Oct. 8. Fields was serving a sentence for solicitation of a minor from Minnehaha County. 

In 2023, seven inmate deaths have been reported by the DOC. Data from the DOC shows there’s been 75 deaths from Fiscal Year 2018 through July 31, 2023, and 80% of the deaths were determined to be natural or medical in cause. 

Causes of inmate death are not often listed by the DOC, with the exception of executions and occasional presumed suicides.