A Pennsylvania man’s death on the medical block of a detention center has raised the record number of fatalities in the facility and brought on questions about the treatment of people being detained there.
Richard Carter, 63, died in the Dauphin County Prison after a “medical emergency” on Christmas Eve. It was the coldest day of the year, Penn Live reports. Another man died from hypothermia on the same row of the detention center months before Carter.
Hypothermia occurs when a person’s body loses heat faster than it can produce it. It usually occurs when a person’s body temperature drops below 95 degrees Fahrenheit.
The district attorney and county coroner have launched an investigation into Carter’s death, according to FOX 43.
The man’s family and friends told Penn Live that he had several medical issues, including using an oxygen tank for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, a condition that obstructs airflow from the lungs.
However, Carter’s family and friends said he had maintained control of his health issues for decades. But on Dec. 24, while it was six degrees Fahrenheit outside, the man was pronounced dead after succumbing to the medical emergency. Investigators must determine how cold Carter’s cell was before medical staff attended to his crisis. Reports show it was 73.5 degrees Fahrenheit in his cell immediately after the crisis was noticed shortly after midnight.
