DELANO, Calif. (KERO) — North Kern State Prison Officials Investigating the Death of an Incarcerated Person as a Homicide
On Friday, February 24, Juan Villanueva, 53, was found unresponsive in his cell at North Kern State Prison in Delano just before 9:00 am. An officer conducting a check of the unit where Villanueva was housed with Ramon Escobar, 51, discovered the unresponsive man and called for medical assistance.
Prison medical staff attempted to revive Villanueva and moved him to the prison's triage area before calling for medical transport. Villanueva was pronounced dead just after 9:00 am.
Villanueva was transferred to North Kern from Los Angeles County. He would have been serving a sentence of life with the possibility of parole for aggravated sexual assault of a person under 14 years of age. He had been housed at North Kern since February 2.
Escobar, also transferred from Los Angeles County, is serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole for two counts of first-degree murder, among other convictions. He had been housed at North Kern since December 5, 2022.
The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation says Villanueva was attacked, but an official cause of death has not yet been released. The Kern County Coroner's Office will make that determination.
