Mississippi Department of Corrections officials reported Tuesday that a state inmate collapsed at the Kemper-Neshoba Regional Correctional Facility in DeKalb and died later at a local hospital.

Limarion Reaves, 28, was talking to a relative on a facility phone when he fell ill shortly before 1 p.m., Warden Johnny Crockett told MDOC. CPR and AED shocks were administered by medical staff until an ambulance arrived.

Reaves' death comes one day after 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."

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"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."

The cause and manner of Reaves' death are pending autopsy, MDOC said in a news release.

Reaves was serving a three-year sentence for aggravated assault in Leflore County.

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The Kemper-Neshoba County Regional Correctional Facility is a medium-security facility that acts as both a prison and a jail housing long-term state commitments and short-term inmates who are awaiting trial.

The facility houses both adult males and females. Male inmates are separated from the female inmates. The current capacity of this facility is 280 male state inmates, 100 county and joint county male inmates, 75 female state inmates and 12 female county inmates, for a total of 476 offenders.

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Twelve other inmates have died — including three in the last three days — while in MDOC custody in less than a month. Some inmates were killed in riots, or what officials have called gang-related disturbances.

Joshua Norman, 26, was found dead in his single-man cell in Parchman's Unit 29, during a security check at 11:12 a.m. Jan. 26.

Jermaine Tyler, 38, was found unresponsive in his housing unit at about 8:15 p.m. Jan. 25 at Marshall County Correctional Facility in Holly Springs.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

This is a developing story and may be updated.

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