Two people held at Vermont prisons have died in recent days, the Department of Corrections announced. Both men, held at different facilities, died after being transferred to hospitals due to unspecified medical issues.
Jose Luis Gonzalez, 51, of Connecticut, was transferred from Marble Valley Regional Correctional Facility to Rutland Regional Medical Center on Feb. 27 for treatment of a health issue, Vermont State Police said in a press release.
Gonzalez was transferred to the University of Vermont Medical Center on March 1, where he received care until he died on March 27, state police said.
The chief medical examiner’s office will conduct an autopsy to determine the cause and manner of death. Gonzalez’s death doesn’t appear suspicious, state police said.
Gonzalez had been detained since November 2025 on charges of obstruction of justice and felony cocaine possession, corrections spokesperson Haley Sommer said in an email. The court set a $75,000 bail for Gonzalez, Sommer said.
On Sunday, the Department of Corrections announced that another person in its custody, Jonathan Stone, had died after being hospitalized for nearly two weeks.
Stone, 37, of St. Johnsbury, was transferred on March 16 from Northern State Correctional Facility to North Country Hospital in Newport and then moved to Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, the department said in a press release.
Medical staff at the New Hampshire hospital pronounced Stone dead on March 29, according to the Department of Corrections. His death does not appear suspicious, the department said.
Stone had been incarcerated since 2019 after being convicted of gross negligent operation with death resulting. He was serving a 10 to 15 year prison sentence with all but eight years suspended. He was scheduled to be released in November, Sommer said in an email.
Sommer declined to provide additional details about both men’s medical conditions, citing federal privacy regulations.
The Defender General’s Prisoners' Rights Office will review the deaths, a standard procedure when someone dies in prison. The Department of Corrections will also review both incidents.
Vermont State Police are investigating Gonzalez’s death. The agency was notified of Stone’s death, but since he died in New Hampshire, state police likely won’t investigate that case, Sommer said.
The Department of Corrections has reported four fatalities among the state prison population so far this year, including one man at a private prison in Mississippi and a woman who died from complications related to a MRSA infection. Last year, nine people died in Vermont prisons.
