Woman jailed on truancy charge dies in Berks prison
A Reading woman found dead in her jail cell had been ordered to prison for the weekend for failure to pay $2,000 in fines for her children skipping school, police said.
Authorities said 55-year-old Eileen DiNino was found unresponsive at Berks County Prison on Saturday morning.
Police say the death isn’t suspicious but the cause hasn’t been determined yet.
The judge who sentenced the woman tells The Reading Eagle that the woman “should not have died alone in prison.” But Judge Dean Patton says under the law, his only option was to give her jail time.
DiNino faced fines from nine active truancy cases. The Eagle says court records show a total of 55 citations between 1999 and last year.
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