Prisoner at Green Bay Correctional Institution died Tuesday, officials say; cellmate is suspect

ALLOUEZ – A 19-year-old prisoner at the Green Bay Correctional Institution died Tuesday night after an incident involving his cellmate, officials said Wednesday.

Micah Laureano died after "an incident in his cell" involving his cellmate around 9:30 p.m. Tuesday, said Beth Hardtke, spokeswoman for the Wisconsin Department of Corrections.

Brown County Sheriff Todd Delain had confirmed Laureano's death earlier Wednesday. On Wednesday afternoon, the sheriff's office said in a statement and the death is being investigated as a homicide.

The sheriff's office identified Laureano's cellmate, but as of Wednesday afternoon he had not been charged in relation to Laureano's death. USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin does not identify people as suspects in crimes for which they have not been charged.

Laureano was "beyond help" by the time medical personnel and Brown County deputies arrived, according to the sheriff's office. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

No staff members were injured in the incident, Hardtke said.

Laureano had been incarcerated at the Green Bay prison since April and had been serving a three-year sentence for concurrent cases in Waukesha County and Columbia County involving robbery and battery, according to public records.

The sheriff's office said it will not release any additional information at this time.

It's the most recent in a string of deaths in the state's prisons. In the last 14 months, six prisoners died at Waupun Correctional Institution , and one guard died after an assault by a teen at Lincoln Hills School for Boys .

Green Bay Correctional Institution was on lockdown for over a year, until the prison restored regular movement July 28 , according to the DOC. The lockdown was a result of understaffing across the DOC.

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Contact Kelli Arseneau at 920-213-3721 or karseneau@gannett.com . Follow her on X, formerly Twitter, at @ArseneauKelli .

This article originally appeared on Appleton Post-Crescent: Prisoner at Green Bay Correctional Institution died Tuesday, officials say; cellmate is suspect