MACHIASPORT, Maine — A prison inmate who was found dead last Friday at the Downeast Correctional Facility succumbed to natural causes, state officials said Wednesday.
Phillip Kay, 32, died from blood clots in both lungs, said Mark Belserene, administrator for the Office of Chief Medical Examiner. A secondary cause was blood clotting in his legs, he said. The autopsy was performed Monday.
Belserene compared the death to instances where people — depending on other health factors — may die similarly after being inactive or stationary for an extended period of time, such as following an unusually long flight.
Scott Fish, a spokesman for the state Department of Corrections, said Wednesday that Kay was found in his room at the minimum security prison in the village of Bucks Harbor on Friday afternoon.
Kay had served approximately four years and seven months of a 12-year split sentence for elevated aggravated assault.