California — Authorities are investigating the death of an inmate at Kern Valley State Prison, where a man convicted of child trafficking was found unresponsive in his cell on Saturday afternoon.
The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) reported that officers discovered 41-year-old Darius Swain unconscious in his shared cell around 3:19 p.m. His cellmate, Gregory Clark, 58, was observed with blood on his clothing. Medical staff responded immediately, and paramedics were called to the prison’s Treatment and Triage Area, but Swain was pronounced dead at 3:48 p.m.
Swain had been serving a life sentence with the possibility of parole since 2019 for human trafficking of a minor by force, along with convictions for pimping, pandering, and additional offenses. Clark, incarcerated at the facility since 2011 for domestic violence and other charges, was transferred to restrictive housing while the CDCR’s Investigative Services Unit examined the incident.
The Kern County Coroner’s Office is responsible for determining the official cause of Swain’s death. Further details regarding the circumstances leading to the fatality remain under investigation, with no additional information on interactions between the two inmates.
