Inmate Stabbed to Death at State Prison

State officials say an inmate has stabbed another inmate to death at Mount Olive Correctional Complex.

West Virginia State Police spokesman Lt. Michael Baylous tells The Charleston Gazette-Mail that troopers believe 40-year-old Steven Branscome stabbed 47-year-old Russell Hager several times in the head and neck using a metal shank on Saturday afternoon.

Sgt. J.L. Milam responded to the incident around 2:15 p.m., where he found Hager in the prison’s weight yard.

Baylous says he didn’t know the motive or charges.

West Virginia Department of Military Affairs and Public Safety spokesman Lawrence Messina said in an email that an inmate killed another inmate using a “makeshift weapon” during a fight. Messina said that the Division of Corrections would conduct an internal review.

State police are also investigating.