A 23-year-old state prisoner facing a 23-year sentence for murder intentionally jumped from the second tier of a dormitory at Limestone Correctional Facility last year, a state official said Thursday.

Ben Christopher McClure died Dec. 30, 2017, from blunt-force trauma to the head, which he sustained after jumping from the dorm where he was housed at the prison in Harvest, said Bob Horton, public information manager for the Alabama Department of Corrections.

McClure was taken to a local hospital and placed on life support but later died from his injuries, he said.

“An internal investigation and autopsy (by the Alabama Department of Forensic Sciences in Huntsville) indicate the manner of death was suicide,” Horton said.

In January 2016, McClure pleaded guilty to the October 2014 fatal shooting of Michael Arnold Johnson in DeKalb County. He was sentenced to 23 years in prison for the murder after already serving 475 days in jail.