Richard Darnel Townsend

A Butler County inmate died Friday after being sent to a hospital two days earlier.

Richard Darnal Townsend, 39, whose residence is listed as Boyers in court records, was initially sent to Butler Memorial Hospital before being transferred to UPMC Presbyterian Hospital in Pittsburgh.

According to a prison report Warden Rick Shaffer forwarded to county prison board members in an e-mail, a corrections officer was making rounds on Wednesday when he saw Townsend seated on the bunk of his cell with a towel covering his head at 4:12 a.m.

The report states Townsend said he was not feeling well so the officer notified his shift sergeant. Townsend was kept under watch until 6 a.m., when medical staff came on duty.

According to the report, “Townsend was conscious and alert but continued to complain of a severe headache and that he was sweating heavily.”

The report states Townsend continued to worsen until medical personnel told the supervising captain to send him to the hospital. County sheriff’s deputies escorted Townsend to the hospital.

Butler Memorial confirmed Townsend was admitted Wednesday before being sent to Presbyterian.

The deputies did not escort him to Pittsburgh.

“He was released from our custody,” said Sheriff Mike Slupe.

According to an e-mail Slupe sent to other county officials, “Our understanding is that the prognosis is not good. Our understanding is that his (Townsend’s) brain was going to be operated on upon his arrival at a hospital in Pittsburgh.”

A subsequent e-mail sent by county solicitor Mike English notified prison board members Friday that Townsend died.

English, Warden Rick Shaffer and county Commissioner Dale Pinkerton, prison board chairman, all declined to comment.

Slupe, who is vice chairman of the prison board, deferred commenting on whether protocol was followed for dealing with ill inmates.

“I cannot comment on it,” he said. “I wasn’t there.”

Commissioner Jim Eckstein, who is on the prison board, said it appears prison staff handled the situation properly.

“It looks like we followed procedure,” Eckstein said.

None of the county correspondance indicated if any incident or injury precipitated Townsend’s symptoms.

Townsend was arrested Nov. 6 for allegedly trying to steal a gas can from a shed at a Branchton Road residence in Cherry Township when the homeowner stopped him at gunpoint.

He was charged with burglary, theft, possession of a controlled substance, driving under the influence of a controlled substance, loitering or prowling at night and defiant trespass as well as several traffic violations.

Townsend could not post the $25,000 bond and remained in prison.