{"id":249190,"date":"2026-04-02T23:24:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-02T23:24:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/249190\/"},"modified":"2026-04-02T23:24:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-02T23:24:08","slug":"california-state-prison-sacramento-inmate-dies-in-cell","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/249190\/","title":{"rendered":"California State Prison, Sacramento inmate dies in cell"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>            <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"responsive-image\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/SAC_20240325_PK_PRSON_0125.JPG\"   width=\"1140\" height=\"641\" title=\"A guard tower overlooks California State Prison, Sacramento in Folsom in 2024. The prison is adjacent to Folsom State Prison, California\u2019s second-oldest correctional facility. \" alt=\"A guard tower overlooks California State Prison, Sacramento in Folsom in 2024. The prison is adjacent to Folsom State Prison, California\u2019s second-oldest correctional facility. \"\/><\/p>\n<p>        A guard tower overlooks California State Prison, Sacramento in Folsom in 2024. The prison is adjacent to Folsom State Prison, California\u2019s second-oldest correctional facility. <\/p>\n<p>                Paul Kitagaki Jr.<\/p>\n<p>            Sacramento Bee file<\/p>\n<p>An inmate on California\u2019s death row at California State Prison, Sacramento, near Folsom, died Thursday, state corrections officials said.<\/p>\n<p>Armando Macias, 50, was found unresponsive in his cell just after 7 a.m., California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation officials said in a statement.<\/p>\n<p>Macias was pronounced dead at 8:01 a.m. by prison medical staff. CDCR officials are investigating the incident. Sacramento County Coroner\u2019s officials are also investigating Macias\u2019 death, said corrections officials.<\/p>\n<p>Macias was condemned to death following his conviction for first-degree murder in the 2002 murder-for-hire of Southern California businessman David Montemayor, 44, according to <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"Follow nofollow noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/orangecountyda.org\/press\/gang-member-sentenced-to-received-death-penalty-for-murdering-family-businessman-in-murder-for-hire-conspiracy\/\">Orange County District Attorney\u2019s Office<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Macias, then a member of a San Fernando Valley gang, and two other gang members were hired by Montemayor\u2019s older sister, Debora Perna, to kidnap and kill her younger brother. Prosecutors said Perna was jealous because their father passed the family business to her younger sibling.<\/p>\n<p>Montemayor briefly fled his captors before Macias shot him dead.<\/p>\n<p>Perna was convicted in October 2005 of murder with the special circumstances of committing the murder in the course of attempted robbery, as well as kidnapping. He was sentenced in February 2006 to life in state prison without the possibility of parole.<\/p>\n<p>Macias, then of Lancaster, was convicted of the killing in April 2011. Jurors recommended the death penalty in May 2011, and in September 2011, he was sentenced to death, according to the Orange County District Attorney\u2019s Office.<\/p>\n<p>Macias had been housed at the California State Prison, Sacramento, also known as the \u201cNew Folsom\u201d prison, since being brought from Orange County in 2011.<\/p>\n<p>        Related Stories from  Sacramento Bee<\/p>\n<p>                <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sacbee.com\/profile\/218174875\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><br \/>\n                        <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"author-thumb\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1775172248_858_SAC_Smith_Darrell_Author_Mug (1).JPG\" width=\"400\" height=\"400\" alt=\"Profile Image of Darrell Smith\" loading=\"lazy\"\/><br \/>\n                    <\/a><\/p>\n<p>                <a class=\"author-name\" href=\"https:\/\/www.sacbee.com\/profile\/218174875\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Darrell Smith<\/a><\/p>\n<p>                    The Sacramento Bee<\/p>\n<p>            Darrell Smith is a local reporter for The Sacramento Bee. He joined The Bee in 2006 and previously worked at newspapers in Palm Springs, Colorado Springs and Marysville. Smith was born and raised at Beale Air Force Base and lives in Elk Grove.\n            <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A guard tower overlooks California State Prison, Sacramento in Folsom in 2024. The prison is adjacent to Folsom&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":249191,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[121,123,122],"class_list":["post-249190","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sacramento","tag-sacramento","tag-sacramento-headlines","tag-sacramento-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/249190","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=249190"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/249190\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/249191"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=249190"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=249190"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=249190"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}