Authorities identified the 38-year-old Idaho prisoner who was killed in a private prison in Arizona.
The Eloy Police Department in a news release identified the man as Christopher Pendleton, who was in custody at Saguaro Correctional Center in Eloy, Arizona. He died after suffering “life-threatening injuries” Wednesday, according to the Idaho Department of Correction. CoreCivic, which owns the prison, in a statement said the man was killed in an “inmate assault.”
Correctional staff found Pendleton at 9:37 a.m. Mountain time and began lifesaving measures immediately, with medical staff and first responders eventually taking over, CoreCivic spokesperson Ryan Gustin said. He was pronounced dead about an hour later.
“Crime scene procedures were initiated by SCC staff, and our partners at IDOC were immediately notified,” Gustin wrote, adding that the Eloy Police Department was handling the investigation.
The case remains under active investigation, Eloy Police Sgt. Violet Maestas said.
Pendleton was a little less than two years into a minimum 18-year prison sentence after being convicted of several felonies related to the sexual abuse of a minor, court records showed.
He was one of hundreds of men who are being housed at Saguaro Correctional Center. IDOC entered into a contract in 2020 with Saguaro Correctional Center because of overcrowding and pays CoreCivic $28.7 million a year to house up to 1,200 of Idaho’s prisoners, according to IDOC’s contract. In June 2023, a little over 400 men were incarcerated at Saguaro, according to an IDOC report.
Men from Hawaii and Montana are also incarcerated in the nearly 2,000-person facility.
The Saguaro Correctional Center has been plagued by complaints and allegations for years. The ACLU of Hawaii in 2024 called for a federal investigation of the prison after a Hawaiian prisoner was killed, and another one stabbed, according to the Honolulu Civil Beat. Six Hawaiian prisoners were indicted this month in the May 2024 homicide of another prisoner, with five of the men being charged with first-degree murder, the news outlet reported.
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