Arrests.
A state prison inmate with ties to the Doylestown and Allentown areas was found unresponsive in his cell last month at the State Correctional Institution at Chester, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections.
Gina Clark, superintendent at SCI Chester, reported that Marquez Dayon Smith, 27, was discovered unresponsive on Jan. 31.
Prison staff and emergency medical personnel attempted life-saving measures, but Smith was pronounced deceased at 6:38 a.m., officials said.
Smith had been serving a four- to eight-year state prison sentence for possession of a firearm with an altered manufacturer’s number stemming from a Bucks County conviction. He had been housed at SCI Chester since Dec. 16, 2024.
In accordance with state policy, the Pennsylvania State Police were notified and are conducting an investigation. The official cause and manner of death will be determined by the Delaware County Coroner’s Office. The inmate’s next of kin has been notified.
According to court records, Smith pleaded guilty in August 2024 to felony counts of possessing a firearm with an altered serial number and carrying a firearm without a license, as well as misdemeanor counts of resisting arrest and possession of drug paraphernalia. He was sentenced to four to eight years in state prison, with credit for 484 days served, followed by 24 months of probation. The charges stemmed from an arrest in Bensalem Township in June 2023 for offenses committed in April of that year.
In a separate case, Smith pleaded guilty in April 2024 to misdemeanor simple assault in Bucks County Common Pleas Court and received 24 months of probation related to a December 2023 arrest in Doylestown Township.
All investigations into the inmate’s death remain ongoing
All suspects and defendants are innocent until proven guilty. This story was compiled using public court records
