A coroner has ruled that a woman died by strangulation during an overnight visit to Mule Creek State Prison in November, and she was alone with her convicted murderer husband at the time.

62-year-old Stephanie Diane Brinson, known to family as Stephanie Dowells, was known to family members as a kind soul who had been encouraging her inmate husband, 54-year-old David Brinson to "be a better person."

Dowells's son, Armand Torres, tells KCRA, that his mother and Brinson would "read the Bible together," and he expressed outrage that prison officials would leave his mother alone with a man with such a violent past. "How could they just let this happen? I just don't get it," he said.

Brinson reportedly called prison guards around 2 am on November 13 from the prison’s family visit unit, where he was having an extended conjugal stay with his wife. He said that his wife had "passed out," and officers began life-saving efforts. Paramedics arrived and continued these efforts, but Dowells was pronounced dead at 2:51 am.

Her cause of death was not immediately known, but as the Sacramento Bee reports, a coroner's report has been completed, and found that she was strangled.

Brinson, for unclear reasons, is currently being held in the state prison system's healthcare facility in Stockton, and he has not yet been charged with Dowells's murder. The district attorney in Amador County, where Mule Creek is located, tells the Bee that he awaiting a full report from the corrections department, and a completed autopsy, before charges can be filed.

The family visiting suite is an apartment-like area in the prison complex where inmates are permitted to have 30- to 40-hour stays with spouses and immediate family members. Inmates on Death Row, and those with convictions for sex offended are not eligible for family visits, but Brinson, who was convicted in a quadruple murder 30 years ago, apparently was.

The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation said in a statement, "Family visits are a privilege, and incarcerated persons must apply and meet strict eligibility criteria to be approved. Only those who demonstrate sustained good behavior and meet specific program requirements are considered. These visits are designed to support positive family connections and successful rehabilitation."

Brinson was convicted in 1993 of the execution-style murders of four men. As the LA Times reported at the time, Brinson shot all four men on June 12, 1990 while committing a robbery in which he walked away with just a small amount of marijuana. He was 23 years old at the time of his sentencing, and he was sentenced to four consecutive life terms.

It's not clear when he met and married and Dowells.

Mule Creek State Prison is also where convicted murderer Scott Peterson is serving his time, and where he was recently beaten up by another inmate.

Top image: Stephanie Dowells, photo courtesy of the family