ELMORE COUNTY, Ala. (WIAT) — James Lewis Kennedy, 39, was fatally stabbed (pictured right) after an altercation with another inmate at approximately 9 a.m. in the Elmore Correctional Facility. The Alabama Department of Corrections is investigating this stabbing that occurred Sunday, and the circumstances that led to the act are under investigation. 

Prison officials have identified 29-year-old Patrick Dean Smith as a suspect in the stabbing.  The victim Kennedy was serving a life sentence for a 2004 first-degree burglary and attempted murder conviction in Henry County. Smith, the suspect, is serving a life sentence for a 2012 second-degree assault conviction in Mobile County. Smith will be charged with murder.