Officials at the Western Virginia Regional Jail say a 61-year-old female inmate died after experiencing a medical emergency inside the jail. Marie Joy Atkinson later died at Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital. Jail officials say she was being held without bond on a Montgomery County charge of assault and battery. A jail statement says Atkinson had recently been hospitalized before suffering her medical emergency in her cell Friday, and WVRJ medical staff and officers attempted to resuscitate her. According to the jail, the Medical Examiner’s office performed an autopsy and preliminarily determined her death to be from natural causes.
