MILPITAS – A 58-year-old inmate at the Elmwood Correctional Facility in Milpitas died early Thursday after apparently falling ill, authorities said.

The Santa Clara County Medical Examiner-Coroner’s Office will test the inmate for COVID-19, said Sgt. Michael Low of the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office, which oversees the jail.

Officials did not release any additional information about the inmate on Friday.

Low said deputies went to a dormitory about 5:20 a.m. for a report of an ill inmate and found him unresponsive and not breathing. They immediately performed CPR and began life-saving measures.

Around 5:40 a.m., the Milpitas Fire Department and paramedics arrived at the scene and pronounced the inmate dead, Low said.

The inmate is the second to die in custody this year. The sheriff’s office did not release his name but said he was booked Monday for a violation of a court order and drug charges.

News of the death comes as Bay Area authorities work to thin jail populations in an effort to limit the spread of the novel coronavirus that has already sickened 189 and killed half a dozen in the county.

Last week, a pair of inmates at Elmwood was quarantined after they were visited by a deputy public defender who later tested positive for the respiratory disease. The sheriff’s office has since taken steps to decrease close contact between people at county jails, including increasing video interviews between defendants and their attorneys.

Low said the sheriff’s office has also temporarily suspended all jail programs and is conducting frequent temperature checks.

The sheriff’s office is following standard protocol for an in-custody death, which includes but is not limited to a joint investigation between sheriff’s office detectives and district attorney’s office investigators, as well as the medical examiner-coroner’s office, Low said.

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