Joseph Altamirano
Joseph Altamirano, 61, died on March 21, 2024, at the Correctional Training Facility in Soledad, California, where he was held. The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation said he punched an officer during a morning cell release, was pepper-sprayed and restrained, and then began having trouble breathing. He was taken to an outside medical facility and pronounced dead about an hour and a half after the altercation. The Monterey County Sheriff's Office Coroner's Division will determine the cause of death, and the prison's investigative unit is looking into what happened.
Cause of death, as reported: Cause not yet determined. CDCR says officers pepper-sprayed and restrained him, and that he then had trouble breathing; the Monterey County coroner has not yet ruled on the cause.
Reported by: California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (the agency that held him). The only account of how this person died comes from the agency that held him.