The death of a 33-year-old inmate serving a 13-year-sentence for a voluntary manslaughter conviction in San Diego County is being investigated as suspicious, pending the outcome of a coroner’s autopsy, authorities said on Saturday.
Gordon Rowell was found unresponsive in his cell about 9:30 a.m. Friday at a state prison facility in Lancaster. Sheriff’s detectives have learned prison guards at California State Prison-Los Angeles County were alerted by an inmate that Rowell was possibly unconscious in his cell.
When the guards checked, they found Rowell unresponsive, Deputy Guillermina Saldana of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Information Bureau said. Staff members immediately began life-saving measures and an ambulance was called, but Rowell was pronounced dead at the prison’s medical facility, according to Lt. Duane Bennett of the state Department of Corrections and
Rehabilitation.
Rowell was in CDCR custody since July 11, 2003 and serving a 13-year- sentence for voluntary manslaughter and resisting arrest convictions in San Diego County, Bennett said.
California State Prison-Los Angeles County opened in 1993 and houses about 3,540 inmates, according to the CDCR.
— City News Service
