Jun 27, 2016 1 min read

Authorities in Fayette County are investigating the death of an inmate at the state prison in LaBelle.

Corrections officers at SCI-Fayette found John Steckley, 51, unresponsive in his cell June 19 during a routine check and took the prisoner to the facility’s infirmary for treatment, state Department of Corrections official said Monday.

He was later transported to Uniontown Hospital before being flown by medical helicopter to Allegheny General Hospital in Pittsburgh, where he died Sunday, DOC officials said.

A supervisor at the Allegheny County Medical Examiner’s office said an autopsy on Steckley was performed Monday morning, but further testing is needed to determine the cause of death.

State police in Belle Vernon and prison security staff are still investigating how Steckley died, but are looking into a possible “inmate-to-inmate assault” as the cause, DOC officials said.

Steckley was serving a 10-to-22-year sentence for aggravated assault in Philadelphia County in September 2006, according to DOC officials, meaning he would have been eligible to be released later this year. He had been serving his sentence at SCI-Fayette since December 2008.