Fayette County Prison inmate dies days after hanging

FAYETTE COUNTY, Pa. — A man found hanging in the Fayette County Prison has died, authorities said Sunday.

The Allegheny County Medical Examiner's Office said it would conduct an autopsy on Derek Andrew Thomas, 25, of Oliver. The office said a doctor pronounced him dead early Thursday at UPMC Presbyterian in Oakland, although Fayette County officials said as recently as Saturday that he was alive.

A corrections officer who was making rounds at the prison in Uniontown discovered Thomas hanging from a bedsheet at 6 p.m. Dec. 22. Warden Brian Miller said Thomas had a pulse when he was cut down, but it was unknown how long Thomas was hanging before being discovered.

He was taken to Uniontown Hospital and transferred to Presbyterian.

A judge sent Thomas to jail Dec. 21 on burglary, theft and receiving stolen property charges, according to court records.

The prison is conducting an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the hanging. Uniontown police were asked to conduct their own investigation.

This article was written by Channel 11’s news exchange partners at TribLIVE.

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