California State Prison Solano is investigating the death of an incarcerated person as a homicide

by Junna Base November 8, 2024

VACAVILLE – Officials with the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation are investigating the November 6, 2024 death of an incarcerated individual at California State Prison, Solano (SOL) as a homicide.

At 8:09 p.m., officers were conducting security patrols when they found incarcerated Darian L. Hernandez unresponsive in his cell. The officers immediately initiated life-saving measures and activated the emergency call 911. Rescue workers arrived on scene and continued life-saving measures. Hernandez was pronounced dead at 8:52 p.m

Another incarcerated individual, Jonathan M. Perez, who was housed in the same cell, was removed and placed in special housing pending an investigation by the SOL Investigative Services Unit and the Solano County District Attorney’s Office.

The Office of the Inspector General has been notified and the Solano County Coroner will determine Hernandez’s official cause of death.

Hernandez, 25, was sentenced Feb. 13, 2018, out of Monterey County to 12 years and four months in prison for violent assault as part of a street gang operation with a loaded firearm in public with a supervisor. Conviction of a felony and assault with a firearms conspiracy as part of a street gang plot to commit a serious crime. On May 12, 2021, he received an additional four-year sentence for one count of assault with a deadly weapon or force likely to result in serious bodily injury committed in prison.

Perez, 23, was admitted from Ventura County on January 27, 2021, to serve a 15-year sentence for assault with a semi-automatic weapon and use of a firearm.

SOL, which opened in 1984, houses more than 3,800 minimum, medium and maximum security incarcerated individuals. Located in Solano County, the jail provides educational, medical and mental health services.

Darian L. Hernandez (deceased)