Northern California inmate death sparks 10th homicide investigation at state prisons this year
California corrections officials have opened a homicide investigation after an inmate at a Northern California prison was apparently beaten to death by two other inmates on Saturday evening. This marks at least the fifth homicide investigation that the state’s prison system have opened this year related to inmate deaths.
Around 6:40 p.m. at High Desert State Prison in Susanville, prison staff saw inmates Pedro Ayon, 30, and Brandon Martinez, 25, attack 43-year-old Jeffrey Concepcion out on one of the prison yards, according to a news release from the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. Correctional officers broke up the fight, but Concepcion was unresponsive to life-saving measures.
Concepcion was transported to an on-site medical facility where he was pronounced dead at 7:45 p.m. The Lassen County Coroner’s Office has yet to determine an official cause of death. No prison staffers or other inmates reported any injuries.
Concepcion was sentenced in July 1999 in Monterey County to life in prison without the possibility of parole on convictions for first-degree murder, second-degree robbery and attempted second-degree murder, according to CDCR.
Inmates Ayon and Martinez have been placed in restricted housing, CDCR said. Ayon was sentenced in June 2021 from Tulare County to 27 years, two months in prison for two counts of second-degree murder, one count of assault with force likely to produce great bodily injury, one count of second-degree robbery and one count of attempted carjacking. Martinez was sentenced in April 2016 in Yuba County to 18 years, eight months in prison for single counts of assault with force likely to produce great bodily injury, second-degree robbery and assault with a deadly weapon.
The Investigative Services Unit for the Susanville facility will work with the Lassen County District Attorney’s Office to conduct the investigation, High Desert State Prison officials said.
Concepcion’s death represents at least the seventh inmate fatality and the sixth homicide investigation within state prisons this year. Officials opened a homicide investigation at California State Prison, Sacramento, after a fight between two inmates in January led to the death of 42-year-old Joseph D. Horne. A second incident at the prison, also known as New Folsom, left Edward C. Bergman, 53, dead in his cell in May. Authorities are investigating fellow inmate Taylor Cervantes, 27, as a homicide suspect.
In February, inmate Robert Aranda, 23, was found unresponsive with stab wounds in his cell at Mule Creek State Prison near Ione. Authorities named his cellmate as the primary suspect in a homicide investigation. Just a week later at North Kern State Prison in Delano, Ariel Torres, 45, was found dead in his cell. His cellmate is under investigation for homicide.
Homicide investigations have also been launched this year following the deaths of inmates at Delano’s Kern Valley State Prison in January and February, Pleasant Valley State Prison in Coalinga in March, Pelican Bay State Prison in Del Norte in March and Soledad Correctional Training Facility in April.
In addition, officials at California State Prison, Sacramento, are investigating the death of inmate Mario Rushing, 46, who died after he refused to stop choking another inmate and a correctional officer shot him with a semi-automatic rifle.
The Bee’s Michael McGough and Dominique Williams contributed to this story.
