A 33-year-old inmate serving a voluntary manslaughter sentence was pronounced dead Friday morning after being found unresponsive in his cell at the California State Prison facility in Lancaster.
Gordon Rowell was found unresponsive at about 9:30 a.m. at the California State Prison-Los Angeles County in the 44700 block of 60th Street West, according to the sheriff’s department and Lt. Duane Bennett of the state Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.
Staff members immediately began life-saving measures and an ambulance was called, but Rowell was pronounced dead at the prison’s medical facility, Bennett said.
His cause of death will be determined by an autopsy, the lieutenant said.
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