Rockview State Prison Reports Fourth Inmate Death in Two Months

An inmate at the State Correctional Institute at Rockview died on Thursday after being found unresponsive in his cell, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections.

It marks the fourth such death in seven weeks at the prison in Centre County.

Richard Woods, 46, was found unresponsive on Thursday morning, Rockview Superintendent Bobbi Jo Salamon reported. Prison staff and medical personnel attempted life-saving measures, and EMS provided advanced life support while taking him Mount Nittany Medical Center, where he died at 7:38 a.m.

State police are investigating the death, per state policy, and the Centre County Coroner’s Office will determine the cause.

Woods was serving a life sentence for murder in Philadelphia. He had been at Rockview since June 2003.

His death comes after two Rockview inmates died in early March and another died earlier this month. Robert D. Williams, 40, died on March 3; Andrew Yuhas, 61, died on March 6; and Jamie E. Houseknecht, 43, died on April 6.

Each man was found unresponsive in his cell and died at the hospital. Causes of death have not yet been released.