An inmate serving a life sentence for trafficking a minor was found dead inside his California prison cell over the weekend, and his cellmate is suspected of being responsible for his death.
Darius J. Swaim, 41, was found unresponsive in his cell at Kern Valley State Prison in Delano Saturday afternoon, according to a release from the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.
Swaim was taken to the prison’s medical facility and was later pronounced dead from his wounds about 30 minutes after the grisly discovery.
Prison officials said Swaim’s cellmate, Gregory Clark, 58, was found in the cell with blood on his clothing. Clark has since been transferred to restrictive housing while officials investigate Swaim’s death, which is being treated as a homicide.
Swaim had been housed at Kern Valley since March 2019 after receiving a life sentence in Alameda County for human trafficking a minor with force, pimping, second-degree robbery and being a felon in possession of a firearm. Although sentenced to life, he was still eligible for eventual parole, officials said.
Clark, meanwhile, has been incarcerated at the prison since March 2011, serving an initial 22-year sentence out of Los Angeles County for domestic violence with a deadly weapon and past felony convictions. In January 2021, he received two additional years on his sentence for committing an assault with a deadly weapon within prison walls, officials said.
The killing of Swaim is currently being investigated and the California Office of the Inspector General has been notified. The Kern County Coroner will determine Swaim’s official cause of death.
An inmate serving a life sentence for trafficking a minor was found dead inside his California prison cell over the weekend, and his cellmate is suspected of being responsible for his death. Darius J. Swaim, 41, was found unresponsive in his cell at Kern Valley State Prison in Delano Saturday afternoon, according to a release […]