Netflix star found dead in his cell at 29

The subject of a recent Netflix documentary series has died at the age of 29, just weeks after the doco premiered on the streamer.

John “Eastside” McAllister, one of the prisoners who participated in the Netflix documentary series Unlocked: A Jail Experiment, has died.

The 29-year-old inmate was just 30 days shy of his release from Pulaski County Regional Detention Facility in Little Rock, Arkansas when his body was found in his cell on June 2, per The Daily Mail.

McAllister’s cause of death has not yet been determined, but authorities do not suspect suicide or foul play. McAllister was pronounced dead after being transported to the Jefferson Regional Medial Center in Pine Bluff, Arkansas.

McAllister (pictured) died in prison at the age of 29.

A GoFundMe page has been set up by McAllister’s aunt to fund his funeral and pay to send his remains to his family.

Her message on the GoFundMe page reads, “John was only 29 years old and had just 30 days left until his release. His sudden passing has left our family devastated. The cause of his death is under investigation.”

Unlocked saw prisoners given more freedom in the hopes they’d flourish.

Unlocked, which premiered in April 2024, followed Arkansas sheriff Eric Higgins’ attempts to transform the way inmates at Pulaski County Regional Detention Facility in Little Rock, Arkansas were guarded, allowing the prisoners more autonomy “to create community and structure for themselves,” according to Netflix.

The series focused on 46 inmates in the prison, including McAllister, who agreed to participate in the six-week experiment.

McAllister was serving three years in the facility for ten drug-related felony counts, breaking and entering, and theft of property and gun possession.

This story originally appeared on Decider and is republished here with permission.

Originally published as Netflix star found dead in his cell at 29