Kern Valley State Prison Officials Investigating the Death of an Incarcerated Person...

Kern Valley State Prison Officials Investigating the Death of an Incarcerated Person as a Homicide

DELANO – California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation officials are investigating the death of an incarcerated person at Kern Valley State Prison (KVSP) as a homicide.

On June 28, 2026, at approximately 3 a.m., staff conducting a planned count noticed incarcerated person Tyrin Meeks was unresponsive in his cell. Staff immediately issued an alarm and began providing medical aid. Meeks’ cellmate, Robert Green, was removed from the cell and placed in restraints.

Officers activated 911 and staff continued life-saving measures as they transferred him to the prison’s triage and treatment area. Subsequently, paramedics arrived and pronounced Meeks deceased at 3:26 a.m.

Green was medically evaluated and remains in restricted housing pending an investigation by the KVSP Investigative Services Unit and the Kern County District Attorney’s Office. The Office of the Inspector General has been notified.

Meeks, 31, was most recently received from Los Angeles County on Nov. 29, 2017. He was sentenced to eight years for first-degree robbery and a prior felony conviction of a serious offense.

Green, 41, was most recently received from Los Angeles County on Oct. 7, 2014. He was sentenced to 31 years for voluntary manslaughter with enhancements of use of a firearm and the Street Gang Act in commission of a violent felony, as well as possession of a firearm by a felon. He later received four additional years for manufacture of a deadly weapon, an in-prison offense by a second striker.

KVSP opened in 2005 and houses over 3,200 minimum and high-security custody inmates. KVSP offers academic classes and vocational programs and employs approximately 1,600 people.