Inmate from Sacramento dies in Kern prison hospital, CDCR probing as homicide
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- CDCR investigates Malik Campbell's death as homicide in Tehachapi prison.
- Campbell, sentenced for manslaughter, was found unresponsive in his cell.
- Cellmate Donte Walker placed in restrictive custody during ongoing probe.
A Sacramento man imprisoned in Kern County died Tuesday at the prison’s hospital after he was found unresponsive in his cell, and California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation officials are investigating the death as a homicide.
Malik Campbell, 26, had been held at California Correctional Institution in Tehachapi since being transferred from a state prison in San Diego County in October 2024.
Campbell was serving a 24-year sentence for voluntary manslaughter with an enhancement for committing a violent felony causing great bodily injury while in a street gang and carrying a loaded firearm in public. Prison staff found him about 4:30 p.m. Tuesday. He was taken to a prison medical unit where medics tried unsuccessfully to revive him, said corrections officials in a statement Thursday.
Campbell was pronounced dead at 5:04 p.m. Kern County Coroner’s Office will determine the cause of Campbell’s death.
No one else was injured and no weapons were recovered from the scene. Correctional officers removed Campbell’s roommate, Donte Walker, also of Sacramento, and placed him in restrictive custody until the investigation by prison and Kern County District Attorney’s officials into Campbell’s death has been completed, said CDCR officials.
Walker, 29, has been held at California Correctional Institution since June 2022, when he was shipped to the Tehachapi facility from Sacramento County. Walker was sentenced in Sacramento Superior Court to four years in state prison for second-degree robbery as a second-strike offender. Walker also received an 8-month sentence in November 2022 in Placer Superior Court for conspiracy to commit crime, said CDCR officials.
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