By Sarah DeSantis
The News-Item
COAL TOWNSHIP — A Northumberland County Prison inmate died today after hanging himself at SCI-Coal Township Friday evening.
Brandon Menne, 21, of 18 S. Market St., Apt. 3, Shamokin, was found hanging in a cell at around 8 p.m. Friday. He was taken by LifeFlight to Geisinger Medical Center, Danville, and was pronounced dead today at 2:26 p.m.
Stephen Bridy, chairperson of the county prison board, said earlier Saturday that the prison was permitting Menne’s mother to visit him in the hospital.
According to a press release issued Saturday afternoon by the state Department of Corrections, Menne was received at the prison Friday on a Feb. 5 bench warrant for failure to comply with bail supervision requirements on charges of theft by unlawful taking.
He had been evaluated per the prison’s standard policy, which includes an assessment for suicide risk, and placed in the housing unit where Northumberland County Prison inmates are being held, said Susan McNaughton, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Corrections.
Bridy said Menne had been admitted to the county’s custody on Feb. 11 at the Snyder County prison. He had also been assessed at that time.
“Department of Corrections staff, the superintendent and the warden of the prison are all working together to fully investigate how this happened and prevent it in the future,” said McNaughton. Per policy, state police have been contacted and will investigate the death also.
Male Northumberland County inmates are being processed at the Snyder County prison before being transported and held at SCI-Coal Township due to the devastating Jan. 14 fire at the Northumberland County Prison in Sunbury.