Folsom prison inmate dies after fight; guards broke it up with pepper spray, grenade

A California State Prison, Sacramento, inmate died after a fight with two other inmates Thursday afternoon in the Folsom facility’s exercise yard.

At 2:16 p.m., correctional officers saw the victim fighting with inmates Joshua Kerr, 35, and Nicholas Mangelli, 28, according to a California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation news release.

Officers used pepper spray and a blast grenade to break up the fight. They found the victim was stabbed with an inmate-made device. Life-saving measures performed on the victim’s trip to the prison’s Central Health Building were unsuccessful and he died at 2:34 p.m., according to the release.

The release doesn’t identify the victim but says he was 63 and serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole. The death is being investigated as a homicide, according to the release.

Kerr, who was received from Orange County in 2015, is serving a 22-year sentence for attempted second-degree murder with extra time for street gang activity and second-degree robbery, according to the release.

Mangelli, who was received from Sacramento County in 2014, is serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole for first-degree murder, the release said.

The high-security prison houses about 2,100 inmates, including long-term inmates and those with special mental health care and high-risk medical conditions.

This story was originally published May 30, 2019 at 6:30 PM.