Thursday's inmate death marks the fourth in less than a week.

Another inmate was found dead at the same prison on Saturday.

Gov. Tate Reeves promised 'We will do better' during his first State of the State address.

The number of deaths within the last month are more than double the average for MDOC.

Management and Training Corporation officials announced another state inmate has died at the Marshall County Correctional Facility.

MTC, which runs the prison, said in an email that 52-year-old Nora Ducksworth died around noon Thursday, apparently of natural causes.

Ducksworth marks the fourth state inmate death this week and the 14th since Dec. 29.

The state's prison system has been rocked by violence in recent weeks and for years by understaffing, under funding and deteriorated facilities.

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An autopsy will determine the exact cause of death for Ducksworth, officials said, but no foul play is suspected.

Ducksworth had been serving a life sentence for murder and armed robbery in Jones County since 1993.

On Tuesday, Limarion Reaves, 28, was talking to a relative on a facility phone when he fell ill and collapsed. Medical staff tried to resuscitate him until an ambulance arrived. Reaves was pronounced dead at a local hospital.

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Two inmates died over the weekend. Joshua Norman, 26, was found hanging in his single-man cell in Parchman's Unit 29, during a security check.

Jermaine Tyler, 38, was found unresponsive in his housing unit at Marshall County Correctional Facility on Saturday. The cause of Tyler's death remains under investigation. There were no visible signs of foul play in connection with his death.

On Monday, Gov. Tate Reeves announced during his first State of the State address that he has ordered the Mississippi State Penitentiary at Parchman's notorious Unit 29 closed, adding the problems he saw during a recent tour of the prison were "infuriating."

"We will do better," Reeves said of the state's prison system, where a dozen inmates have died in recent weeks, including stabbings and suicides. "We will right the wrongs of the past, and we will do everything in our power to protect the dignity of every Mississippi life."

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The number of deaths within the last month are more than double the average for MDOC. Records obtained by the Clarion Ledger show that between January 2014 and September 2019, an average of 5.5 people died while in custody per month.

There also haven't been this many homicides and suicides in a month since at least 2014. According to MDOC's records, the vast majority of past inmate deaths have been attributed to natural causes.

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Other recent inmate deaths include:

Dec. 29 — Terrandance Dobbins, 40, was killed in what MDOC called a "major disturbance" at South Mississippi Correctional Institution.

Jan. 1 — Walter Gates, 25, died of multiple stab wounds at Parchman.

Jan. 2 — Gregory Emary, 26, was killed in a fight at the Chickasaw County Regional Facility.

Jan. 2 — Roosevelt Holliman, 32, was stabbed to death in a "gang fight" at Parchman, according to the coroner.

Jan. 3 — Denorris Howell, 36, died at Parchman of neck injuries after an altercation with his cellmate.

Jan. 8 — A.D. Mills, a 42-year-old Parchman inmate, died of "natural causes" at a hospital in Clarksdale.

Jan. 18 — Gabriel Carmen, 31, was found hanging in his cell at Parchman.

Jan. 21 — Timothy Hudspeth, 35, died at Parchman of what appeared to be blunt force beating injuries following an altercation with other inmates.

Jan. 21 — James Talley, 36, died at Parchman of what appeared to be blunt force beating injuries following an altercation with other inmates.

Jan. 22 — Thomas Lee, 49, was found dead in his cell at Parchman. MDOC has called his death "an apparent suicide."

Jan. 25 — Jermaine Tyler, 38, died at the Marshall County Correctional Facility with "no initial signs of foul play," according to MTC, which runs the facility.

Jan. 26 — Joshua Norman, 26, was found hanging in a one-man cell at Parchman.

Jan. 28 — Limarion Reaves, 28, was talking to a relative on a facility phone when he collapsed at the Kemper-Neshoba Regional Correctional Facility in DeKalb.

Jan. 30 — Nora Ducksworth, 52, died at the Marshall County Correctional Facility. Initial indications are that the death was due to natural causes, according to MTC.

Contact Lici Beveridge at 601-584-3104 or lbeveridge@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter @licibev.