CORCORAN – California State Prison-Corcoran (CSP-COR) officials are investigating the death of an inmate as a homicide. On Saturday, March 9, staff were conducting security checks in a housing unit at 7:30 a.m. They found inmate Luis Romero deceased in his cell. His cause of death is under investigation.

Officials have identified Romero’s cellmate, Jaime Osuna, as a suspect. Osuna has been placed in the long-term restricted housing unit. CSP-COR’s Investigative Services Unit has launched an investigation into the incident, along with the Kings County Sheriff’s Department. The Kings County District Attorney’s Office and the Office of the Inspector General have been notified.

Osuna, 31, was received by CDCR May 2017 from Kern County with a life-without-parole sentence for first-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder, and assault with a deadly weapon.

Romero, 44, was serving a life-with-parole sentence after being convicted in Los Angeles County in 1992 for second-degree murder with the use of a firearm.

California State Prison, Corcoran opened in 1988, employs approximately 2,500 people and houses approximately 3,200 minimum-, medium-, maximum-, and high-security custody inmates. The prison provides inmates with work, vocational, academic, educational, self-help, religious and other rehabilitative programs and has a fully licensed correctional treatment center.