Jail reports second inmate death of 2021

A rapist jailed for failing to register as a sex offender died in his cell Tuesday at the Oklahoma County jail.

The inmate death was the second so far this year and the fourth since mid-December at the jail just west of downtown Oklahoma City.

Michael Williams, 59, was arrested in September after he failed to register as a sex offender following his release from prison in August.

The jail is investigating the death.

The detainee was discovered "unresponsive" in his cell by staff about 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, the jail said in a news release.

Medical Williams staff was alerted and the Emergency Medical Services Authority, an ambulance service, was dispatched, the jail also said.

"The detainee was pronounced dead by EMSA at the scene," according to the news release. "The detainee did not have a cellmate."

Williams has convictions for sex offenses dating back more than 30 years, records show. His latest stay in prison began in 2005 after he pleaded guilty to raping a bedridden, catatonic woman at an Oklahoma City nursing home. The victim was 81.

He was identified as a suspect in the 1998 nursing home rape from his DNA, police reported. The match to evidence from the rape came in 2004 after his DNA profile was entered into a computer database. The DNA profile was developed from a sample of his blood taken after a conviction.

The first inmate death in 2021 is being investigated as a homicide. The inmate was identified as Brad Leon Lane, 40, of Oklahoma City. Suspected of beating him to death Saturday with a rod is a cellmate.