Inmate dies, cause remains unknown

Ada County sheriff’s detectives hope an autopsy on a 21-year-old prison inmate will provide answers about how he ended up dead at Idaho’s medium security prison Wednesday

Detectives are treating the death of Peter William Curtright as a homicide but did not identify any suspects in the case Thursday.

If the case is ruled a homicide, it would be the fourth time an inmate has been killed in an Idaho Department of Correction facility since 1981.

Investigators said Thursday they found no obvious cause of death for Curtright, a former Meridian resident who was found unconscious in a restroom near the prison’s gym around 7:15 p.m. Wednesday.

Curtright had a pulse but was not breathing when he was found, correction officials said. Staffers attempted to revive him, but he was pronounced dead a short time later.

Curtright was in the gym area with several other inmates for a three-hour recreation session when he was discovered unconscious, officials said.

The gym has a basketball court, weights and other recreation equipment.

Ada County Sheriff’s detectives spent much of Thursday interviewing inmates and prison officials.

Curtright was serving a life prison term for aggravated battery, robbery, three counts of assault, and witness intimidation charges out of Ada and Twin Falls counties. He would have been eligible for parole in 2014.

He was arrested by Meridian police in 2005 at his family’s home, accused of stabbing a home health care worker during an argument, police said. He was arrested by Twin Falls police in 2002 in connection with a robbery at Key Bank.

The Idaho State Correctional Institute is a medium-security facility south of Boise with a population of about 1,500 male inmates.