Authorities identify inmate who died at Utah State Prison

By Jacob Klopfenstein for KSL | Posted - Sept. 25, 2019 at 2:12 p.m.

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SALT LAKE CITY — Authorities have identified an inmate who died at the Utah State Prison on Saturday.

Reo Watts, 38, died about 10:30 p.m. in the Oquirrh facility at the prison in Draper, according to Utah Department of Public Safety public affairs director Marissa Cote.

Cote did not release any further information about Watts’s death. Department of Corrections officials said Sunday the death was “suspicious” but have not provided any further details about the circumstances surrounding it. Cote declined to say if the case was being investigated as a homicide.

Utah Department of Corrections spokeswoman Kaitlin Felsted said the Utah State Bureau of Investigations is handling the case.

Court records show Watts had been in custody in the Utah State Prison since Sept. 5. He was charged Aug. 9 with failing to stop at the command of law enforcement, possession or use of a controlled substance, and manufacturing or possessing burglary tools; all misdemeanors.