Coalinga inmate dies. Officials suspect cellmate with a history of prison violence

A 60-year-old prisoner at Pleasant Valley State Prison in Coalinga was found dead in his cell on Friday. Officials are investigating it as a homicide.

The body was found after a corrections officer noticed that inmate Jesus Castaneda of Los Angeles County declined to go to the recreational yard. As the officer approached his cell window, he saw Castaneda’s cellmate, Joseph Saucedo of San Joaquin County, lying on the floor unresponsive.

The officer activated the alarm and staff members tried to save Saucedo using cardiopulmonary resuscitation. He was taken to the prison’s treatment center where he was pronounced dead at 10:07 a.m.

Saucedo was sentenced to prison in 1997 to serve a 40-years-to-life sentence for lewd and lascivious acts with a child under 14, kidnapping, sodomy and aggravated assault of a child less than 14 years old, oral copulation of a child with force, and dissuading a victim or witness.

Castaneda, 38, has been placed in the prison’s Administrative Segregation Unit while the incident is investigated. He is serving a life-with-parole sentence for first-degree murder with a firearm and vehicle theft with a firearm.

While in prison he received additional sentences for manufacturing a weapon and assault with a deadly weapon.

The Fresno County District Attorney’s Office is assisting in the investigation.