Inmate’s death at state penitentiary is being investigated as suspected murder, investigator says
By Lori Pilger
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LINCOLN, Nebraska (Lincoln Journal Star) — The death of a 26-year-old inmate late last month at the Nebraska State Penitentiary in Lincoln is being investigated as a suspected murder, investigators say in newly filed court records.
In a search warrant filed Friday, Nebraska State Patrol Investigator Henry Dimitroff asked a judge for an order to get DNA from Philip Garcia’s former cellmate, who since has been moved to the Tecumseh State Correctional Institution.
The Journal Star isn’t naming the 37-year-old since he hasn’t yet been charged.
Dimitroff said prison staff discovered Garcia unresponsive in his restricted housing cell, on his back with his legs crossed and a bedsheet fashioned into a rope around his neck, shortly after 4 p.m. Oct. 29.
They said Garcia’s cellmate was out of breath and, when asked what happened, allegedly said “no comment,” the investigator said.
Prison staff moved the cellmate and tried to save Garcia, but he was pronounced dead at 4:24 p.m.
Dimitroff said the room was in disarray as if there had been a recent struggle, and there were no obvious signs Garcia had been suspended from anything.
He said a day later Garcia’s cellmate called his mother and said he had been trying to get mental health help for a week and had been ignored and just blacked out on Oct. 29.
“I don’t really know what happened,” he told her, according to Dimitroff.
He is serving a sentence of 13 to 17 years for attempted assault on an officer and possession of a weapon by a prohibited person, a drug charge and assault by a confined person.
He has been eligible for parole since 2020.
Garcia, a Scottsbluff resident, was serving a sentence of 26 to 46 years for felony theft, use of a knife to commit a felony and assault on a law enforcement officer.
Under state law, a grand jury is called when a person dies while in the custody.
The 2021 annual report for the Office of Inspector General for the Nebraska Correctional System took issue with double bunking inmates in restrictive housing at the state penitentiary.
“In the past four annual reports, the OIG has recommended that NDCS end the practice of double bunking in restrictive housing units for a number of reasons, including the safety of the two cellmates and the impact on their mental health. This practice primarily occurs at NSP (Nebraska State Penitentiary),” according to the report.
The inspector general called it a violation of the American Correctional Association’s standard regarding square footage for inmates in restrictive housing.
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