October 2, 2024 – SOLEDAD – California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation officials are investigating the Sept 30, 2024, death of an incarcerated person at Salinas Valley State Prison (SVSP) as a homicide.

At 10:45 a.m., officers were conducting security rounds and approached a cell occupied by Colin Hebert and Jessie Hernandez. The officer observed Hebert unresponsive in his cell, and immediately called for medical assistance.

Life saving measures were initiated and he was pronounced deceased at 10:58 a.m. by an institution doctor.

Hernandez has been placed in restricted housing pending an investigation by SVSP Investigative Services Unit and the Monterey County District Attorney’s Office. Officers recovered one inmate-manufactured weapon at the scene.  The Office of the Inspector General was notified, and the Monterey County Coroner will determine Hebert’s official cause of death.

Hebert, 36, was most recently received from Riverside County on June 11, 2013, to serve life without the possibility of parole for attempted first-degree murder with an enhancement for intentional discharge of a firearm causing great bodily injury/death and assault with a firearm with enhancements inflicting great bodily injury and use of a firearm. While incarcerated, he received an eight-year sentence from Lassen County on June 28, 2018, for assault with a deadly weapon as a second striker, an in-prison offense.

Hernandez, 38, was received from Los Angeles County on July 22, 2004, to serve life with the possibility of parole for second-degree murder with an enhancement for use of a firearm and attempted second-degree murder with an enhancement for use of a firearm.  While incarcerated, he received a 12-year sentence from Monterey County on April 12, 2023, for assault by a prisoner with a deadly weapon/instrument as a second striker, an in-prison offense.

SVSP opened in 1996 and houses more than 2,500 minimum-, medium-, maximum- and high-security incarcerated persons. SVSP offers academic classes and vocational programs and employs approximately 1,500 people.

Source & photos: CDCR