Woman Dies In Prison: Mother Of Seven Dies In Prison While Serving 2-Day Sentence For Truancy

A woman dies in prison while serving a 48 hour prison sentence — and the news has people talking. The 55-year-old Pennsylvania woman was sent to jail for failing to pay truancy fines. According to NewsMax, Eileen DiNino was found dead in her jail cell after about 24 hours. The debt that she owed totaled over $2,000 and stemmed back to 1999. DiNino has seven children, many of whom missed school over the years, racking up fines that DiNino couldn’t pay because they added up and she couldn’t afford them.

District Judge Dean R. Patton was curious as to what happened to DiNino after he “reluctantly” sentenced her to prison:

“Did something happen? Was she scared to death? This lady didn’t need to be there. We don’t do debtors prisons anymore. That went out 100 years ago.”

The woman who died in prison was punished due to the laws in Pennsylvania, which are a bit ludicrous according to some people. For instance, the state won’t hesitate to criminalize residents for not paying their trash bills.

Diana L. Sealy (whose son married DiNino’s daughter) said:

“The woman didn’t have any money. Years ago, I tried helping her out. She had all these kids.”

Apparently DiNino didn’t work and she failed to show up to various court hearings. When she did show up, she often didn’t have the proper paperwork with her and her court dates were rescheduled. When she finally decided to serve 48 hours behind bars as a way to “forgive” her debt, she died.

Judge Patton added:

“She cared about her kids, but her kids ruled the roost. She was just accepting what was coming, and (would) let the cards fall where they may. She was a different person. She was cleaned up, smiling. I think she realized, when this is done, the weight was off her shoulders.”

When a woman dies in prison after only spending 24 hours behind bars, people wonder what might have happened. At this point, investigators say that her death was not suspicious and foul play is not suspected. However, her cause of death has not been released at this time. According to The New York Daily News, an autopsy on Eileen DiNino was inconclusive.

As previously reported by The Inquisitr, many people are baffled by the whole situation, so many wondering why this woman was sent to jail because she owed money. And so many more wondering how she died, suddenly, without any known health issues.

[Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons]