Inmate killed after being attacked by two others at California prison, authorities say

An inmate was killed at California State Prison, Sacramento, in Folsom after being attacked by two other inmates Monday afternoon, according to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.

Joshua J. Dunn, 24, and Stephen C. Dunckhurst, 51, were seen by prison staff attacking another inmate in the general population yard around 2:45 p.m., according to the release. They then ignored officer’s orders for everyone to get on the ground, prompting officers to use pepper spray and blast grenades.

The inured inmate was taken by ambulance to the facility health services building, where he was pronounced dead around 3:25 p.m., CDCR said. His name is being withheld pending family notification. The death is being treated as a homicide.

Officers recovered two prison-made weapons at the scene of the attack, the release said. Dunn and Dunckhurst have been moved to segregated housing pending an investigation.

Dunn is halfway through a four-year sentence for first-degree burglary, vehicle theft and second-degree burglary, according to CDCR.

Dunckhurst was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole in 2005 under the three-strikes law after a vehicle theft case. He received an additional life sentence for assaulting another inmate in Kings County in 2010, and received a two-year, eight-month sentence for taking an officer’s weapon and resisting/deterring an officer with threats or violence.

This is the second prison killing in as many years involving Dunckhurst, who was suspected to have killed inmate Devlin Stringfellow in January 2018.