Inmate’s death investigated as homicide

Calipatria State Prison (CAL) officials announced they are investigating Friday’s death of an inmate as a homicide after two other inmates attacked him.

In a release issued Saturday, the prison said correctional officers responded about 3 p.m. when inmates Robert A. Garcia and Brian Figueroa attacked Joseph Martinez, 21, on the Facility C general population maximum-security yard. Officers used chemical agents and one non-lethal 40mm round to quell the incident.

Martinez suffered numerous puncture wounds to his chest and back and was taken to the prison’s medical facility where life-saving measures were given. He was transported by ambulance to a hospital in the community. A doctor pronounced him dead at 4:32 p.m.

Martinez had been admitted from Santa Barbara County on May 3, 2019, to serve a 24-year-to-life sentence for attempted first-degree murder with enhancements for use of a firearm, street gang activity and inflicting great bodily injury.

Officers recovered one inmate-made weapon. The two suspects, Garcia and Figueroa, were rehoused in an Administrative Segregation Unit pending investigation into their involvement.

Garcia, 24, was admitted from Los Angeles County on Nov. 9, 2018, to serve 50 years to life with the possibility of parole for first-degree murder, intentional discharge of a firearm causing great bodily injury or death, and vehicle theft.

Figueroa, 26, was admitted on Feb. 25, 2014, from Los Angeles County to serve life with the possibility of parole for second-degree murder, his second strike.

The Imperial County District Attorney’s Office is assisting in the investigation, the prison said. The Office of the Inspector General was also notified.

CAL houses 3,021 minimum- and maximum-security inmates and employs approximately 1,200 people. It opened in 1992.