California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation officials are investigating the November 26th, death of an incarcerated person at High Desert State Prison as a homicide.
According to details provided by the CDCR, shortly after 6:00p.m. HDSP staff observed one inmate, identified as Zachary Barron, attacking another inmate, Juan Linares.
Barron used an improvised weapon, to stab Linares multiple times. Officers responded and quelled the attack.
Linares was immediately transported to the institution’s Correctional Treatment Center for advanced medical care. However, his condition worsened, requiring life-saving measures, including CPR and wound care, by Correctional Officers and medical staff.
Despite their efforts, Linares was pronounced dead at 7:09p.m. by a physician at an outside hospital.
Linares, 44, was received by CDCR from Alameda County in 2009, to serve 36 years to life for second-degree murder.
Barron, 32, was received by CDCR from San Bernardino County in 2019, to serve 14 years to life for first-degree murder. He has been placed in restricted housing while the incident is under investigation.
The HDSP Investigative Services Unit and the Lassen County District Attorney’s Office are conducting investigations into this incident. The Office of the Inspector General has been notified, and the Lassen County Coroner will determine Linares’s official cause of death.
