SOLEDAD – California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) officials are investigating the death of an incarcerated person at Salinas Valley State Prison (SVSP) as a homicide.
At 3:19 p.m. on Oct. 15, three incarcerated people, Alberto T. Valades, Jose L. Valle, and Jimmy M. Martinez, allegedly attacked another incarcerated person, Cory J. Benton with an inmate-manufactured weapon.
Benton sustained multiple stab wounds and life-saving measures were performed. While enroute to an outside medical facility he was pronounced deceased at 4:25 p.m. No staff or additional incarcerated people were injured.
Suspects have been moved to restricted housing pending investigation into this case. Officials had limited population movement on the yard to facilitate the investigation being conducted by SVSP’s Investigative Services Unit, the Monterrey County District Attorney’s Office and the Monterrey County Coroner. The Office of the Inspector General was notified, and the Monterrey County Coroner will determine Benton’s official cause of death.
Benton, 40, was received from Santa Barbara County on Nov. 30, 2012, to serve 25 years for assault with a deadly weapon, assault with force likely to produce great bodily injury with enhancements of street gang act in commission of violent felony.
Valades, 54, was received from Los Angeles County on Dec. 10, 1997, to serve life with the possibility of parole for second-degree robbery as a third striker.
Valle, 33, was received from Kings County on March 27, 2013, to serve life with the possibility of parole for first-degree murder with enhancement of intentional discharge of firearm to cause great bodily injury.
Martinez, 32, was received from Los Angeles County on April. 2, 2014, to serve life with the possibility of parole for first-degree murder and possession with enhancements of intentional discharge of firearm to cause great bodily injury.
SVSP opened in May 1996 in Monterey County. The institution provides long-term housing for 2,687 minimum- and maximum-custody incarcerated people and employs approximately 1,500 people.
Contact: CDCR Press Office: OPEC@cdcr.ca.gov