Inmate fight locks down state prison in Somerset; Fayette prison death being investigated as suicide
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A portion of the state prison in Somerset County was placed on lockdown Tuesday after an inmate was injured in a fight, an official at SCI Somerset said.
The injured inmate was transported to an undisclosed hospital for evaluation after the 11:30 a.m. altercation involving two inmates, according to prison spokeswoman Christie L. Schenck.
No corrections officers were injured, she said.
The cause of the altercation remains under investigation by prison officials, she said.
Meanwhile, state police in Fayette County said Tuesday an inmate death at SCI Fayette in La Belle last week is being investigated as a suicide.
SCI Fayette Superintendent Mark Capozza reported that a corrections officer conducting rounds discovered inmate David Irby, 31, unconscious in his cell. Officers provided immediate emergency first aid until medical staff arrived, he said in a news release.
The inmate was taken to Uniontown Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 12:20 a.m. Friday.
Irby was serving five to 14 years in prison for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon after a conviction in Carbon County in 2010, officials said. He had been at the prison since Aug. 8.
Capozza reported Irby’s death remains under investigation by state police in Belle Vernon and Fayette County Coroner Dr. Phillip E. Reilly.
Troop B Public Information Officer Trooper Robert Broadwater said Irby was the only person in his cell and it is being investigated as a possible suicide.
Another inmate at the Fayette prison died Dec. 30.
Joseph Gacha, 42, was pronounced dead at the prison at 9:39 a.m. Dec. 30 after fighting with his cellmate and prison guards, state police said.
Investigators believe drugs smuggled into the prison contributed to the death of Gacha, who was serving a life sentence for killing a Luzerne County fair queen in 2004.