Man becomes second death in a week inside Philly jails

A 61-year-old incarcerated man died Saturday at Curran-Fromhold Correctional Facility, a week after the death of Amanda Cahill – who was locked up following a police sweep in Kensington.

The Philadelphia Department of Prisons, in a statement, said a correctional officer found the man unresponsive in his cell just before 7 a.m. and called for medical staff. They deployed “CPR and began lifesaving measures,” officials said.

Philadelphia Fire Department medics responded and attempted to revive the man, but he never recovered and died at around 7:30 a.m., according to the PDP.

Few other details were available Tuesday. Jail officials have not publicly identified the inmate or released information about how long he was in custody. PDP spokesperson John Mitchell said he was waiting for the man’s family to be notified.

His death is being investigated, though “there is no suspicion of foul play,” the department added in the statement.

He is the fifth person to die in PDP custody this year, according to a register maintained by the Abolitionist Law Center. In 2023, there were 14 fatalities in the city’s jail system, and 10 incarcerated individuals died the year prior, the ALC data shows.

Cahill’s death sparked questions about Mayor Cherelle Parker’s strategy for ending Kensington’s drug market and the jails’ ability to handle a potential influx of people with substance use disorders.

She died Sept. 7 at the Philadelphia Industrial Correctional Center less than three days after being arrested, along with 33 others, during a police enforcement operation in the area of G Street and Allegheny Avenue.

Officers allegedly observed Cahill, 31, smoking a pipe, and court documents indicate she was apprehended on suspicion of possessing cocaine. She had detainers related to cases in Chester and Bucks counties and an open arrest warrant for theft in New Jersey.

Mitchell, in a statement following Cahill’s death, said she had told an intake nurse she “was fine” about six-and-a-half hours before she was found unresponsive in her cell, at 7:30 a.m.

Kensington Voice reported this week that unnamed female inmates housed near Cahill said she had been screaming for help and banging on her cell door for hours prior to her death. Sam Lew, a jail organizer with the Abolitionist Law Center, told Metro she has received similar accounts from incarcerated women.

PDP officials did not comment on the allegation, citing an ongoing investigation into Cahill’s death.

“I think we’re all just looking for answers, just really frustrated that we haven’t gotten any answers,” Cahill’s younger sister, Amber Clark, said. She added that the family has retained an attorney who is seeking to acquire surveillance footage from inside PICC.

A spokesperson for the Medical Examiner’s Office said Tuesday that a probe into Cahill’s death is still pending.

In the meantime, Cahill’s two sons – ages 12 and 6 – are grieving in their own way, with the older boy angry about the way his mother was treated, Clark told Metro.

“She was around for her kids,” she added. “She was a mom. She just was dealing with her own battle.”

Both deaths come less than a month after a federal judge ordered the city to set aside $25 million to bring the jail system into compliance with the terms of a settlement stemming from a class-action lawsuit brought by inmates over prison conditions.

PDP has been plagued by a staffing crisis – with hundreds of positions vacant – so severe that, a court-appointed monitor found, it has contributed to multiple escapes and an unsafe environment inside the walls.

Cathleen Beltz, the court monitor, is scheduled to file her next update on PDP’s progress in meeting the settlement’s terms at the end of the month.