McALESTER, Okla. (AP) - Authorities say an inmate has been found dead in his cell at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester.

Warden's Assistant Terry Crenshaw said Tuesday 53-year-old Steve Wainscott was found hanging in his cell during the 9 a.m. head count on Monday. Security and medical personnel responded to the cell and pronounced him dead.

He was serving a 45-year prison sentence for a 2003 second-degree murder conviction out of Carter County.

Crenshaw says Wainscott did have a cellmate, but preliminary findings indicate his death was a suicide.

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