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8th inmate dies of suspected coronavirus complications on California's death row

Beames was sentenced to death in Tulare County in 1995 for the murder and torture of a 15-month-old child.

Credit: AP/California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation via AP

In this 2010 photo released by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation is John M. Beames. Eight inmates on California's death row have now died of what appears to be complications from the coronavirus, corrections officials said Wednesday, July 22, 2020, as San Quentin State Prison continued to record the state's highest number of inmate cases. Officials said condemned inmate Beames, 67, died Tuesday at an outside hospital. (California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation via AP)

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Eight inmates on California's death row have now died of apparent complications from the coronavirus.

San Quentin State Prison inmate John Beames died Tuesday at an outside hospital. He was 67.

He was sentenced to death in Tulare County in 1995 for the murder and torture of a 15-month-old child.

There have now been 14 virus-related deaths at the prison north of San Francisco that has the nation's largest death row with 717 condemned inmates.

San Quentin currently has 860 active cases. That's more than triple the number at any other prison.

Nearly 1,200 inmates have recovered.

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