A 27-year-old inmate died Friday at Eagle River’s Hiland Mountain Correctional Center after she was found unresponsive in her cell the same day she was placed in custody, according to state officials.
When Natalia Andreaknoff was found unresponsive shortly after 8 p.m. Friday, correctional officers and medical staff “immediately began performing life saving measures,” the Alaska Department of Corrections said in a statement.
Emergency responders arrived about 11 minutes later and pronounced Andreaknoff dead around 8:30 p.m., according to the corrections department.
She was in custody Friday after being charged with assault-recklessly causing injury and had not been sentenced, corrections officials said.
Andreaknoff is the 10th inmate to die in Department of Corrections custody this year.
The Department of Corrections said her death was not related to COVID-19. Two inmates have recently died with COVID-19, including one on Monday who had been held at the Goose Creek Correctional Center in Port MacKenzie. The virus has quickly spread at Goose Creek since an outbreak was first reported there in early November, with well over half of inmates having contracted the virus.
A 48-year-old man also died in custody at the Anchorage Correctional Complex in November after an unspecified medical emergency.
In July, another 27-year-old inmate, Aaron Lamont, died at a hospital after being found unresponsive in his cell at the Anchorage Correctional Complex.
The corrections department said that no foul play is suspected in Andreaknoff’s death. Her death will be reviewed by Alaska State Troopers and the medical examiner’s office, corrections officials said.