Prison Deaths in Pennsylvania Among Highest in the Country

Richard Townsend died while incarcerated at the Butler County Jail. He died from a subdural hematoma - a head injury normally caused by severe trauma and characterized by a collection of blood outside the brain. According to a lawsuit filed by his estate in Federal Court, Richard's death could have been prevented if he had only received appropriate medical care from the staff at Butler County Prison.

Unfortunately, Richard's death is only one of hundreds that have occurred in Pennsylvania since 2000. In a recent article, journalists from the Huffington Post conducted extensive research to determine just how many people were dying in our nation's prisons. While the results in many states are extremely alarming, Pennsylvania’s, in particular, are highly disturbing.

First, after reviewing the information available in 44 states and the District of Columbia, the journalists found that Pennsylvania had one of the highest incidents of prison deaths in the county, beaten only by California, Texas, and Florida, with a total of 720 deaths since 2000. While the yearly number fluctuated between a low of 31 and a high of 66, on average, 49 people died in a Pennsylvania prison per year.

The causes of death varied widely: deaths were categorized as either suicides, “natural causes” or medical emergencies, "pending investigation,” unknown, drug-related, homicide or “other.” Strikingly, the largest number of deaths nationwide were suicides, which made up 31% of the total number, with “natural causes” or medical emergencies following closely behind at 27%. Those listed as “pending investigation” or unknown together made up 29% of the deaths, with homicides, drugs and "other” causes being blamed for the rest. In Pennsylvania, many of these deaths - especially suicides - occurred within only 3-8 days after the victim's arrest.

While these numbers begin to shed light on the problems caused by inadequate medical care in our prisons, they do not give us the whole picture. The journalists were unable to gather details from prisons that failed to respond to their requests and many records were either nonexistent or not made available during their investigation. The actual numbers could be much higher. The categories used by the journalists also obscure how many of these deaths were due to medical negligence. It is unclear how many of the suicides, “natural causes” or medical emergency deaths were due to inadequate medical care. However, especially in suicides, poor medical care and monitoring is often one of the driving forces behind a prison death.

Yes, this information may be shocking to some, but it brings attention to a rather taboo subject regarding state prisons - inadequate healthcare for inmates. Prison inmate or not, every human being deserves the right to competent medical care. Fortunately, there are wrongful death attorneys who are familiar with this controversial area and have experience in representing victims of this atrocity. This is why the first step in dealing with a medical negligence death is to contact a personal injury lawyer to evaluate your options.

If someone you know and love has died in prison as a result of inadequate medical care or monitoring, we can help. Please call the Law Offices of Alvin F. de Levie & Associates - 24 hours a day, 7 days a week - at 215-351-1100 (Philadelphia Area), 814-238-5880 (State College Area) or 1-800-292-0458 (Toll-Free) for a consultation. One of our team members will be in immediate contact with you. We maintain offices throughout Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, State College, Bellefonte and Lock Haven, and we are willing to meet any clients throughout the Commonwealth.