In late May, Ross Amos told prison officials at the Adult Correctional Institutions, Rhode Island’s primary prison and jail complex, where he was incarcerated that he didn’t feel well. According to reports, they sent him back to his cell. He later was pronounced dead at a hospital.
Now, Amos’ family is seeking answers, the Providence Journal reports. Providence Journal reporter Katie Mulvaney spoke with Ocean State Media morning host Luis Hernandez about Amos’ death and efforts to shed more light on deaths at the ACI.
Interview highlights
On what happened to Ross Amos
Katie Mulvaney: What Ross’s mother tells me is that she received a call at 3:30 (a.m.) on May 31 that her son had passed away at Rhode Island Hospital. According to the (Department of Corrections,) they got a call about an unresponsive inmate very early that morning. They administered CPR, took him to the hospital and there he was pronounced dead. His mother says that he hadn’t been feeling well and that he was told to drink water and head back to bed and everything played out from there.
On a new drug, K2, prison officials say they’re seeing more often
Mulvaney: K2 is a synthetic form of cannabis that is sprayed onto paper and that is how it’s getting into prisons and being ingested. And as I understand, in a case from Wyatt Prison in Central Falls, it’s so potent that contact with it will have an effect on whoever touched whatever was exposed to K2.
There have been four deaths at the ACI in 2025 and there were five in 2024. On what those numbers say about incarceration in Rhode Island
Mulvaney: The population at the ACI and at prisons in general is a very at-risk population. They generally have histories of trauma and family upheaval. They often have substance-use issues and mental health issues. There was a national study that found that 65% of the (incarcerated) population are on psychotropic drugs and 20% of the population was struggling with opioid-use disorders. So it’s a very at-risk population.
