2 inmates from Southern California suspects in deadly prison yard attack

(KTLA) – Two inmates from Southern California are suspects in a deadly attack on a third inmate at California State Prison (SAC), previously called New Folsom Prison, California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation officials announced Thursday.  

The violence unfolded in the prison’s main exercise yard just after 5 p.m. on Jan. 15, according to a CDCR news release.  

Prison officials said that officers responded as two inmates, identified as 32-year-old Cody Taylor and 58-year-old David Gomez, attacked 36-year-old Mario Campbell, quickly stopping the violence “with one application of chemical agents.”  

The victim was rushed to a hospital outside the prison where he was declared dead by a physician just before 6:30 p.m. 

At the scene of the attack in the exercise yard, officers located “three improvised weapons,” the release detailed.  

Both Taylor and Gomez were put in restricted housing after prison officials launched a homicide investigation.  

Sentenced to life with the possibility of parole for “penetration with force against a victim’s will,” Campbell was transferred to SAC in October 2009, officials said. The 36-year-old was also convicted of false imprisonment, a felon in possession of a firearm and first-degree burglary and robbery among several other offenses.  

Taylor, who was most recently sentenced to life with the possibility of parole in Sacramento County for first-degree murder among other violent offenses, was transferred to SAC from Ventura County in May 2013.  

Originally transferred to SAC from Los Angeles County in April 1998 for rape, oral copulation with force and first-degree burglary, he was sentenced to life with the possibility of parole. In January 2021, he was convicted in Monterey County for first-degree murder and another violent offense and was again sentenced to life with the possibility of parole.  

California State Prison in Sacramento County opened in 1986 and houses more than 2,200 medium, maximum and high-security inmates.