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

California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation officials are investigating the Nov. 10, 2025, death of an incarcerated person at Calipatria State Prison (CAL) as a homicide.

On Nov. 10, 2025, at approximately 10:20 a.m., staff responded to incarcerated persons Eric Gonzalez and Javier A. Torres attacking incarcerated person Alex Mercado on an exercise yard. Staff immediately responded, utilizing chemical agents to quell the attack. Officers immediately restrained Gonzalez and Torres and removed them from the yard, initiated life-saving measures on Mercado, and activated 911. Mercado was transported to an outside medical facility where he was pronounced deceased by the Imperial County Coroner at 11:46 a.m.

No staff or additional incarcerated people were injured. Officers recovered one improvised weapon at the scene.

Gonzalez and Torres have been placed in restricted housing pending an investigation by the CAL Investigative Services Unit and the Imperial County District Attorney's Office. The Office of the Inspector General was notified, and the Imperial County Coroner will determine Mercado's official cause of death.

Mercado, 31, was received from Los Angeles County on Sept. 9, 2022. He was sentenced to 13 years for attempted second-degree murder and assault with a semiautomatic firearm with an enhancement for the use of a firearm.

Gonzalez, 26, was received from Los Angeles County on May 4, 2023. He was sentenced to life with the possibility of parole for first-degree murder with an enhancement for the use of a firearm.

Torres, 27, was most recently returned from parole with a new term from Kern County on May 10, 2024. He was sentenced to six years for carjacking as a second striker.

CAL provides a variety of academic, self-help and vocational programs that are certified by the National Center for Construction Education and Research. The Imperial County institution houses approximately 2,500 minimum- and maximum-security incarcerated people and employs approximately 1,200 people.

Alex Mercado (deceased)

Eric Gonzalez

Javier A. Torres