Alabama prison officials are investigating an apparent death by suicide in a Montgomery County correctional facility.

Paul Ford, 49, was found unresponsive on Wednesday afternoon in his cell at Kilby Correctional Facility. The Alabama Department of Corrections said Ford was found hanging by a bedsheet.

Ford's death marks the third apparent death by suicide in Alabama prisons in less than four weeks.

Prison officials are currently investigating a death on Dec. 21 at Holman Prison in Atmore, and another on Jan. 2 at the St. Clair prison in Springville.

In Fiscal Year 2018, which the Alabama Department of Corrections uses to report its data, six inmates died by suicide. Nearly 40 inmates attempted suicide.

Ford was serving life without parole for a March 1995 murder in Talladega County.

Do you have tips, concerns or comments about Alabama prison issues? Call Montgomery Advertiser reporter Melissa Brown at 334-240-0132 or email her at mabrown@gannett.com.