'Suspicious' inmate death at PICC probed

Police are investigating the death of an inmate at the Philadelphia Industrial Correctional Center this morning as a homicide because he appeared to have been stabbed, sources said.

Correctional officers found the inmate, 52, just after 7 a.m. this morning in his cell, and medics declared him dead on the scene at 7:25 a.m., said Shawn Hawes, a prisons spokeswoman. A police source identified the victim as Daryl Warthen, who court records indicate was awaiting a mental-health status hearing in two cases: a 2002 burglary and a 2004 criminal-trespassing incident.

Warthen was found bloody and unresponsive in a locked cell, sources said. His cell mate, whom sources identified as Sylvester Smith, 47, was being questioned. Court records show Smith was transferred to PICC Monday as he awaits a trial in an aggravated-assault case from December.

Hawes wouldn't confirm those details, saying only: "It appears suspicious, and we are investigating." She declined to say whether investigators found a weapon.

Lorenzo North, president of District Council 33, Local 159, the union that represents correctional officers, said he didn't know details of the incident.

"This shows how dangerous prisons sometimes are for both the inmates and the officers," North said.

Officials have locked the prison down until the investigation is completed, as is routine procedure in such investigations, Hawes said.

PICC houses 971 medium- and maximum-security adult inmates and 38 juvenile boys on State Road, Hawes said.