Convicted California prisoner, 42, stabbed to death with inmate-made weapons

An investigation is underway after a 42-year-old inmate sentenced to life without parole was fatally stabbed over the weekend in Southern California, prison officials said.

Investigators at the California Department of Corrections' Ironwood State Prison in Blythe, eastern Riverside County, said that on June 22 around 7 p.m., three inmates attacked Luis Padilla, leaving him with multiple stabbing.

“Staff immediately sounded the alarm,” a CDCR statement said. “The three attackers fled the area but were quickly located and arrested without incident.”

Life-saving measures were performed on the 42-year-old man and he was transferred by medical personnel to the triage and processing area at Ironwood State Prison.

Padilla, who was transferred from Los Angeles County to the facility in 2001, was pronounced dead at 7:38 p.m., jail officials said.

At the scene of the attack, investigators found two weapons made by inmates.

The three suspects in the fatal attack, Samual Ricardez, 28, Jonathan Orduno, 23, and Juan Madrigal, 26, all transferred from San Diego County serving life sentences without the possibility of parole, were moved to restrictive housing while the Services Unit and the Riverside County District Attorney's Office investigate.

Ironwood State Prison, opened in 1994, houses more than 3,100 minimum, medium and maximum security inmates.