A Carbon County man who was serving a state prison term for aggravated assault was found dead in his cell of a suspected suicide on Jan. 31.

According to a news release from the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections, Mark Capozza, superintendent at State Correctional Institution at Fayette reported the death of David Irby, 31.

A corrections officer conducting rounds found Irby unconscious in his cell. Officers provided immediate emergency first aid until medical staff arrived.

Irby was transferred by Brownsville Ambulance to Uniontown Hospital where he was pronounced dead just after midnight.

Irby was serving a five-year, eight-month to 14-year, four-month sentence for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon on a Carbon County conviction.

According to previous articles published in the Times News, Irby pleaded guilty to three counts of aggravated assault, two counts of simple assault and one count of aggravated harassment by a prisoner.

Irby was first arrested on Feb. 27, 2010, by state police at Fern Ridge for an incident at the Glenn Clark House, a Child First Services facility located along Route 903, in Albrightsville, Penn Forest Township.

He was at the home waiting to be placed into a supervised independent living program. Irby did not want to be there and made physical contact with two employees of the home.

He was placed in the county prison on those charges.

On April 6, at the county jail he struck a corrections officer after causing a disturbance in his cell. Other guards attempted to subdue Irby but he injured a second corrections officer before being restrained.

On April 14, 2010, Irby was involved in another incident in the Carbon prison. He had a dispute with another inmate and threw a mix of milk and urine on the other inmate.

Irby had been at SCI Fayette since Aug. 8.

Pennsylvania’s State Police at the Belle Vernon Barracks and the Fayette County Coroner were both notified.

According to the Pittsburgh Post Gazette, Fayette County Coroner Phillip Reilly said he had preliminary information from Irby’s autopsy, but he deferred to state police to release it. He said he was three to four weeks away from having a full report, which will include toxicology results.

The inmate’s next-of-kin had been notified.