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Michael Howard Butler II had been in and out of prisons in four counties since 2009, according to his criminal record.
Tragically, for those who loved him, this time in prison was his last.
A "medical emergency" was called in the A Block dayroom after Butler was "found unresponsive, lying on his back, in his bunk" at 9:38 p.m. on Wednesday. Staff began life-saving measures within a minute but they stopped at 10:22 p.m. and the 37-year-old was pronounced dead, county officials explained.
Dauphin County Criminal Investigations Division and DCP Internal Affairs are investigating his death.
Butler had two active court cases at the time of his death, court records show. County officials said he "was committed to DCP on Jan. 12 on charges of aggravated assault and a bench warrant."
This could be seen as somewhat downplaying the seriousness of his recent charges in the county, which were, according to his latest court docket: felony aggravated assault, felony strangulation, and summary public drunkenness.
The warrant was for a York County case, and according to that docket, he was charged with misdemeanor habitual offender, misdemeanor driving with a suspended or revoked license, and a summary charge for speeding.
His previous dockets in Dauphin, York, Perry, and Cumberland counties were for charges including assault, DUI, drugs, endangering the welfare of children, recklessly endangering another person, resisting arrest, and several traffic offenses.
His most notable conviction was for a series of drunken incidents in 2016 when he was arrested twice in 24 hours.
He was first arrested for exposing himself in at a drive-in movie theatre, urinating from his pick-up (which he didn't have a license to operator due to a previous drinking related conviction), and collapsing — his then 9-year-old daughter who was in the pick-up called 911, PennLive reported at the time.
The next evening he was in a DUI related crash, where he "destroyed a tree and a large section of guardrail" with the same pick-up from the previous night — then the truck rolled over, seriously injuring Butler, so he was airlifted to Penn State Hershey Medical Center CBS21 reported. The outlet noted that police also found "drug paraphernalia was inside the pick up truck."
It is unknown if his struggles with addiction over the past 15 years were a factor in the medical emergency that caused his death.
He is survived by his family, no additional information about his life or funeral arrangements were available at the time of writing.
"The Prison staff extends their condolences to the family and friends of Mr. Butler."
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