OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A 58-year-old state prisoner awaiting sentencing has died in hospice care following an undisclosed illness.

The Douglas County Department of Corrections says in a news release that Charles McNeal was pronounced dead Friday afternoon while under hospice care. The release says McNeal had been hospitalized since Sept. 22 and was recently transferred to hospice care.

Nebraska law requires an investigation whenever someone dies in custody. Douglas County officials say that investigation has already begun.

McNeal had been convicted in early September of three counts of sexual assault of a child younger than 12. Court records say the assaults on the child took place between August 2012 and the end of 2014.

McNeal had been scheduled to be sentenced for those convictions on Nov. 17.