Man convicted of attacking Douglas County corrections workers dies in prison
Joshua Matthews, 38, was found unresponsive in his El Dorado cell while serving a 245-month sentence for battering Douglas County corrections workers. His death is under investigation.
A Douglas County-linked inmate serving a 245-month sentence for attacking county corrections workers died in state custody at El Dorado Correctional Facility, closing one chapter of a long-running local case while opening another around how he died. Joshua Matthews, 38, was found unresponsive in his cell Friday, and prison staff started life-saving measures before emergency responders arrived. Those efforts did not save him.
The Kansas Department of Corrections said the cause of death is still pending an independent autopsy. Both the Kansas Bureau of Investigation and the Department of Corrections are investigating, leaving officials without a public explanation for why Matthews died inside the prison in El Dorado, Kansas.
Matthews’ death carries local weight in Douglas County because the sentence he was serving came from a case involving corrections employees here. Kansas appellate records show the underlying incident dated to June 2, 2015, when Matthews was an inmate in the Douglas County Jail. Deputy Mario Godinez of the Douglas County Sheriff’s Department was told Matthews had extra towels in his cell, and the case later moved into the Douglas District Court.
Court of Appeals records show Matthews challenged his convictions, but they were affirmed. The appellate opinion identified the offense as battery against city or county correctional officers or employees, underscoring that the case centered on violence directed at jail staff rather than a routine discipline matter inside the lockup.
Matthews was serving 245 months, a little more than 20 years, when he died. That sentence, tied to attacks on Douglas County corrections workers, made his case one that lingered in the local criminal justice system long after the original jail incident had passed through the courts.
For now, the public record offers only a narrow set of facts: Matthews was found unresponsive Friday, prison staff responded immediately, emergency medical aid was unsuccessful, and investigators are still waiting on an independent autopsy. The unanswered questions matter not just for El Dorado but for Douglas County residents who have followed the case of a man convicted of attacking local corrections workers and now dying in state custody. The next account will have to come from the death investigation itself.
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