The Arkansas Department of Correction says a state prison inmate at the department's Varner Unit at Grady has died.
Department spokeswoman Shea Wilson said Wednesday that 29-year-old John Dobson died Tuesday afternoon and state police are investigating. She says the death is being investigated as a homicide.
Wilson said she can't release other details, other than to say it does not appear a weapon was used.
Dobson was serving a five-year prison sentence for a theft of property conviction in Independence County. He had been in custody since January 2013.