An incarcerated man was found dead inside his cell, amid rash of violence at Philly jails

Prison officials are investigating after a 59-year-old man was found dead inside his cell at Curran-Fromhold Correctional Facility on Sunday morning, marking the latest death amid a wave of violence that has plagued the city’s jails in recent years.

Prisons Department spokesperson John Mitchell said a correctional officer observed the unidentified victim lying unresponsive on his cell floor and then called for backup.

Officers secured the cell while medical staff performed CPR. A preliminary assessment indicated that the cause of death had been blunt-force trauma, Mitchell said, and the victim was pronounced dead on the scene.

According to a preliminary incident report obtained by The Inquirer, a correctional officer also found the victim’s cellmate inside the room and attempted to remove him from the unit, at which point a group of other inmates began to assault the man.

Mitchell confirmed the victim had just one cellmate, 26, but declined to confirm that account or to say whether that man was considered a suspect. The Philadelphia Police Department is investigating the case alongside prisons officials, he said.

It remained unclear Sunday whether the prison system will make any safety improvements in light of this latest incident — which comes amid an ongoing period of what advocates describe as unchecked violence and disorder inside the sprawling jail complex in Northeast Philadelphia.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, The Inquirer has chronicled dozens of deaths inside the city’s four jails on State Road, where incarcerated people, correctional officers, and criminal justice advocates have raised alarm over deteriorating conditions and critically low staffing levels.

Sunday’s death comes two months after a 44-year-old man was fatally assaulted within hours of his intake at the same jail.

Philadelphia jails housed over 4,600 people as of last month. Prison Commissioner Blanche Carney told City Council in the spring that about 40% of correctional officer positions were vacant. It remains unclear whether there was adequate staffing inside the jail unit where the Sunday incident took place.

The union that represents the officers expressed no confidence in the leadership and described the ongoing situation as “an emergency” that endangered both staff and incarcerated people.

Lawmakers have sought to create independent oversight over the jail in recent years, citing inaction from the city’s Prison Advisory Board.

Staff writer Samantha Melamed contributed to this article.