DELANO – Kern Valley State Prison (KVSP) officials are investigating the death of Sidney Kang as a homicide after he was attacked by two other incarcerated men.
At approximately 10 a.m. today, officers responded when inmates Anthony Ramirez and Michael Caldera allegedly attacked Kang on a maximum-security recreational yard. Kang was taken to the prison’s triage and treatment area for treatment of injuries he sustained from the attack and summoned an ambulance; however, he was pronounced deceased at 10:41 a.m. Officers recovered two inmate-manufactured weapons.
Sidney Kang, 31, was admitted from Los Angeles County on May 2, 2014, to serve 14 years for assault with force likely to produce great bodily injury, a second strike; inflicting great bodily injury, and having a prior felony conviction of a serious offense.
Officials have limited inmate movement on the yard to facilitate the investigation being conducted by KVSP’s Investigative Services Unit, the Kern County District Attorney’s Office and the Kern County Coroner. The Office of the Inspector General was notified and the Kern County Coroner will determine Kang’s cause of death.
Anthony Ramirez, 40, was admitted from Los Angeles County on May 16, 2008, to serve life with the possibility of parole for second-degree murder with the use of a firearm and a 15-year concurrent sentence for intentional discharge of a firearm causing great bodily injury/death. While incarcerated, he was sentenced in Kern County on Oct. 23, 2020, and received 12 years for assault by a prisoner with a deadly weapon or force likely to cause great bodily injury, a second-strike, in-prison offense. On Aug. 18, 2021, Ramirez was sentenced in Kern County and received a two-year term for possession/manufacture of a deadly weapon by a prisoner, an in-prison offense and second strike.
Michael Caldera, 35, was admitted from San Bernardino County on Sept. 7, 2010, to serve 71 years, four months for several second-degree robbery convictions with the use of a firearm, a second strike; and resisting/deterring an officer with threats/violence, also a second strike.
KVSP opened in 2005 and houses approximately 3,200 minimum-, medium-, and high-security custody inmates. KVSP offers academic classes and vocational programs and employs approximately 1,500 people.
Contact: CDCR Press Office, opec@cdcr.ca.gov
