Bucks County Confirms 2018 Death of Jail Inmate

Semion Parkansky took his own life while incarcerated at Bucks County jail last July, but the county did not confirm his death until recently.

Bucks County Correctional Facility [Source: Bucks County Courier Times]

Bucks County has confirmed another death at its county jail occurred last year, but has refused to release additional details or say why it was not publicly reported at the time.

This news organization learned about the July 8 death last month after requesting information from the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections about deaths at the county jail last year. The state agency listed the death as a suicide in the county’s monthly extraordinary occurrences report in August, according to DOC spokeswoman Susan McNaughton.

Bucks County spokesman Larry King confirmed only the date of death and that the inmate was a 72-year-old man. The county is not releasing any other information surrounding the death “for legal reasons,” King said, but he did not elaborate when asked in an email.

A county in Pennsylvania stalled almost seven months before confirming the death of an inmate in one of its jails, citing vague "legal reasons" for the delay, Jo Ciavaglia reported. Read the story at the Bucks County Courier Times.