Inmate dead after attack at New Folsom prison

FOLSOM, Calif. – The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) announced Tuesday that it is investigating a death following an attack at California State Prison, Sacramento (CSP Sacramento), also known as New Folsom Prison, as a homicide.

At around 9:10 a.m. Sunday, correctional officers allegedly saw inmates Gregory Roach, Ronald Ricks and Gregg Reynolds attacking fellow inmate Randy Schlaepfer, according to a CDCR press release.

Prison officials said staff responded immediately, giving multiple orders to lie down and using pepper spray and an explosive grenade to stop the attack. Medical staff reportedly rendered aid and called 911.

Schlaepfer, 55, apparently suffered multiple stab wounds and was pronounced dead by Folsom Fire Department paramedics at 9:46 a.m., the CDCR said.

Medical staff also examined the others and transported Ricks to an outside medical facility, where he is in acceptable condition, prison officials said. No injuries to other prisoners or prison staff were reported.

According to the CDCR, two inmate-made weapons were found at the crime scene.

The CDCR said Roach and Reynolds are in confined living conditions pending the completion of the investigation by the CSP Sacramento Investigative Services Unit and the Sacramento County District Attorney’s Office.

The Office of the Inspector General has been notified, and the Sacramento County Coroner’s Office will determine Schlaepfer’s official cause of death, according to the state.

Schlaepfer was admitted from Tulare County on March 15, 1989, to serve a one-year, four-month sentence for second-degree robbery, the CDCR said.

On May 5, 1995, he was readmitted from Tulare County to serve a life sentence with the possibility of parole for first-degree murder.

While incarcerated, he was sentenced to 18 years in prison on January 1, 2003, for assault with force likely to cause great bodily harm. On August 7, 2015, he was again sentenced to life imprisonment with the possibility of parole for assault on a prisoner with a deadly weapon likely to cause great bodily harm.

Roach, 35, was sentenced on April 17, 2014, out of San Diego County to three years in prison for theft and embezzlement of funds from an elderly or dependent person, two years for possession of ammunition and two years for possession of a firearm by a felon or drug addict, the CDCR said.

In August 2015, he was released into Post-Release Community Supervision in San Diego County.

On August 31, 2017, he was taken from San Diego County to serve a one-year prison sentence for assault likely to cause great bodily harm.

On October 15, 2019, he was sentenced to 12 years in prison for assault with violence likely to cause serious bodily harm. While in prison, he was sentenced to life imprisonment with the possibility of parole for premeditated murder on February 2, 2024.

Ricks, 38, was picked up on Oct. 13, 2006, from Riverside County, where he was convicted of carrying a loaded firearm and purchasing or receiving a stolen vehicle, the CDCR said.

On October 13, 2023, he was sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole for premeditated murder and eight years in prison for assault with a deadly weapon.

Reynolds, 46, was picked up on Feb. 17, 1999, from Los Angeles County, where he was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole for first-degree murder, the CDCR said.

While in custody, he was sentenced to life imprisonment without parole for premeditated murder on June 8, 2004.

CSP Sacramento is a maximum security prison in Folsom that houses about 1,650 inmates and employs about 1,700 staff members, according to the CDCR. It houses people serving long sentences, people who require special mental health programs, and people with high-risk medical issues.

The facility reportedly offers rehabilitation programs in the areas of work, science, arts and religion and opened in 1986.

CSP Sacramento is located less than a mile southeast of Folsom State Prison, where all California license plates are manufactured.

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