LANCASTER – A convicted rapist’s killing at the hands of a fellow inmate doing life without parole at California State Prison, Los Angeles County, in Lancaster was being investigated Monday as a homicide.
Staff at the prison saw 30-year-old Kenneth M. Wilson attacking Renee A. Rodriguez, 51, in the dayroom at about 7:15 p.m. Sunday. By the time staff was able to stop the attack using chemical agents and non-lethal weapons, Rodriguez was fatally wounded.
“Officers recovered two improvised weapons at the scene of the attack. No other injuries were reported,” according to California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation officials, who have limited access to the dayroom to allow for the investigation to proceed.
Wilson, who was received from Riverside County on Feb. 28, 2020, after being sentenced to life without the possibility of parole for first-degree murder with an enhancement for being armed with a firearm, has been placed in restricted housing pending an investigation by the prison Investigative Services Unit and the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office.
His sentence by a Riverside County court included four years for possession of drugs/paraphernalia/alcohol in jail/prison as a second striker; four years for battery on emergency personnel as a second striker; four years for first-degree robbery and criminal threat to cause great bodily injury/death; and three years for second-degree robbery, all to be served concurrent with the first sentence.
Rodriguez was most recently received from Los Angeles County on May 7, 2001, after being sentenced to life with the possibility of parole for rape with force/violence/fear of bodily injury.
“While incarcerated, he was convicted twice of possession/manufacture of a deadly weapon by an incarcerated person, an in-prison offense by a second striker, sentenced by Monterey County on Oct. 8, 2008, to four years, and by Fresno County on May 13, 2014, to two years,” according to the CDCR.
The Los Angeles County medical examiner will determine ‘s official cause of death.
LAC in Lancaster houses approximately 2,900 minimum- and maximum- security inmates.
