SAN DIEGO – California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation officials are investigating the death of an incarcerated person at Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility (RJD) as a homicide.
On Aug. 1, 2026, at 06:07 a.m., custody staff members found incarcerated person Hector Ozuna unresponsive inside his cell with his cellmate Alexis Guerrero.
Staff immediately responded and continued life-saving measures on Ozuna as they transferred him to the prison’s triage and treatment area. Subsequently, medical officials pronounced Ozuna deceased at 06:57 a.m.
Guerrero was removed from the cell and remains in restricted housing pending an investigation by the RJD Investigative Services Unit and the San Diego County District Attorney’s Office. No manufactured weapons were found at the scene. The Office of the Inspector General has been notified, and the San Diego County Coroner will determine Ozuna’s official cause of death.
Ozuna, 66, was most recently received from Riverside County on Feb. 17, 2023. He was sentenced to life with the possibility of parole for assault with a deadly weapon, third striker, with an enhancement for violent felony to inflict great bodily injury.
Guerrero, 30, was most recently received from San Bernadino County on June 13, 2024. He was sentenced to six years.
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