State Police State Prison Inmate Death Investigation

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(CUMBERLAND, MD) – Maryland State Police are investigating the death of a state prison inmate in Allegany County.

The inmate is identified as Ralph Ruark, 80. Ruark was declared deceased by emergency medical service personnel. He was a state prison inmate serving time at the Western Correctional Institution in Cumberland. Ruark was transported to the Office of Chief Medical Examiner in Baltimore to determine the cause and manner of death.

At 4:10 p.m. yesterday, the Maryland State Police Homicide Unit was contacted by investigators from the Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services Internal Investigative Unit (DPSCS IIU) about an inmate death that occurred shortly before 3:30 p.m.

The Maryland State Police Homicide Unit is leading the investigation. Assistance is being provided by State Police crime scene technicians and investigators with the DPSCS Internal Investigative Unit. Upon completion, the investigation will be presented to the Allegany County State’s Attorney’s Office for review.

The investigation continues.

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CONTACT: Office of Media Communications, msp.media@maryland.gov

Disclaimer: In the U.S.A., all persons accused of a crime by the State are presumed to be innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. See: https://so.md/presumed-innocence. Additionally, all of the information provided above is solely from the perspective of the respective law enforcement agency and does not provide any direct input from the accused or persons otherwise mentioned. You can find additional information about the case by searching the Maryland Judiciary Case Search Database using the accused's name and date of birth. The database is online at https://so.md/mdcasesearch . Persons named who have been found innocent or not guilty of all charges in the respective case, and/or have had the case ordered expunged by the court can have their name, age, and city redacted by following the process defined at https://so.md/expungeme.