Idaho death row inmate found dead in his prison cell
An Idaho Maximum Security Institution inmate who has spent more than 25 years on death row has died of apparent natural causes.
The Idaho Department of Corrections says 58-year-old Zane Jack Fields was found unresponsive in his cell about 7 a.m. Monday morning. Prison staff initiated first aid, but Fields was pronounced dead an hour later.
Fields was one of nine people awaiting execution in Idaho.
He was sentenced to death in 1991 in Ada County for stabbing a woman to death during a robbery at a Boise gift shop.
As in all cases of unattended deaths at the prison, the Ada County Sheriff’s Office processed Fields’ cell as a crime scene. The Ada County Coroner’s Office will determine the cause of death.
