Former Hudson Prison inmate charged in overdose death

HUDSON — A former inmate at Hudson Correctional Institution has been arrested and charged with homicide after another inmate, who officials have not named, died of a fentanyl overdose at the facility, according to the state Department of Corrections and community supervision.

Eric Sleezer, 44, was arrested Tuesday and charged with criminally negligent homicide, a Class E felony.

On January 31, 2023, members of the DOCCS Bureau of Special Investigations responded to the Hudson facility after an inmate was found unresponsive in his bed.

The inmate’s cause of death was later determined to be a drug overdose caused by fentanyl, according to the department.

An investigation into the incident led to evidence pointing to Sleezer, who was incarcerated at the facility on the day of the inmate’s death, as the source of the fentanyl, DOCCS said.

According to the DOCCS inmate search, Sleezer is serving a six-year sentence at the facility for convictions on two counts of third-degree criminal sale of a controlled substance, a Class B felony.

The drug case originated in Fulton County, according to the state investigation. Sleezer, then of Gloversville, was accused of selling cocaine in 2018, newspaper records show.

Sleezer was paroled from the facility in April 2023, according to the department’s inmate search.

Sleezer was listed as being in custody at the Marcy Correctional Center in Oneida County, serving a 78-month sentence, and for third-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance, according to the inmate lookup website.

Sleezer previously served a five-year sentence at the Willard Drug Treatment Campus in Seneca County from 2013 to 2017 and a conviction for third-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance.

Sleezer was arraigned in Columbia County Court on Wednesday and remanded to the Columbia County Jail. He is scheduled to appear in court on November 15.