Inmate at California prison from Sacramento dies after fight, ‘less lethal’ round to head
A Sacramento County man imprisoned in Northern California died after a fight with another inmate last week led prison staff to intervene with force.
The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation is investigating the Wednesday incident that led to the death of Jarray D. Birdon, the department said in a news release Friday. Correctional staff at High Desert State Prison near Susanville witnessed Birdon and another man in a physical fight. They verbally ordered the two to stop and get down, but neither complied.
Correctional staff saw Birdon get hit in the face and head by the other inmate’s fists and knee before falling to the ground. Staff used chemical agents to break up the fight and an officer fired one “less lethal 40mm direct impact round,” which struck Birdon in the head, according to prison officials.
Birdon was transferred to a hospital outside the prison and died from his injuries Friday. The officer who fired the round is on administrative leave and the incident is being investigated. CDCR officials did not disclose the employee’s name.
Birdon, 48, was serving 16 years in prison for various second-strike violent and nonviolent offenses.
In 2007, a Sacramento Superior Court judge sentenced Birdon to four years for felony possession of a controlled substance, and was released in 2010 after serving just under three years.
In 2013, he was sentenced to state prison again following a conviction for assault with a firearm likely to cause great bodily injury, possessing or owning a firearm by a felon and criminal threat to cause great bodily injury or death, with enhancements for prior felony conviction of a serious offense.
