A Brooklyn-born male inmate died of an apparent suicide Wednesday at the Lancaster County Prison on East King Street, an official said.

While Warden Vincent Guarini said the death was "definitely" a suicide, Lancaster County Coroner Dr. Stephen Diamantoni said he would not rule on the manner of death until after an autopsy today.

Guarini said the man had not ingested anything and he was "pretty sure it was a hanging," but he would not comment on the manner of hanging until Diamantoni's ruling.

Guarini also would not release the man's name Wednesday afternoon because no next-of-kin had been notified. It will be tricky to notify someone, he said, because the inmate had no family listed, was from out-of-state and no one has visited him since he arrived at the prison.

Guarini said the man was "not a young kid" but hesitated to call him middle aged.

The man had been arrested, charged before a district justice and committed to the jail about a month ago, but had not gone to trial, Guarini said.

He had recently moved into a general population cell block, partially because of his own request, and he was not on any special state of alert, he said.

Guarini said that, in addition to the coroner's autopsy, the Lancaster city police and his own staff, will investigate the death.

Scott Martin, a Lancaster County commissioner and president of the prison board, said, "It is unfortunate when anything like this happens in your care. It is a good time to look at our policies and procedures.

(We) will give our due diligence to investigate."

E-mail: lvaningen@lnpnews.com