IONE, CA – California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation officials are investigating the April 4, 2025, death of an incarcerated person at Mule Creek State Prison (MCSP) as a homicide.
At approximately 6:30 a.m., officers observed incarcerated person Robert E. Cole unresponsive in his cell. Officers immediately initiated life-saving measures and activated 911. Cole was taken to the prison’s triage and treatment area where medical staff continued live-saving measures. A paramedic pronounced Cole deceased at 6:43 a.m.
Cole’s cellmate, Justin P. Welsh, has been placed in restricted housing pending an investigation by the MCSP Investigative Services Unit and the Amador County District Attorney’s Office.
The Office of the Inspector General has been notified, and the Amador County Coroner will determine Cole’s official cause of death.
Cole, 48, was received from Placer County on Aug. 8, 2019. He was sentenced to life with the possibility of parole for adult engaging in sex/sodomy with a child 10 years old or younger, adult engaging in oral copulation/penetration with a child 10 years of younger, lewd or lascivious acts with a child under 14 years old, oral copulation with force/violence/fear with a child under 14 years old, oral copulation with an unconscious victim, attempted sodomy with a victim under 18 years old, and attempted oral copulation with a victim under 16 years old and the subject over 21 years old.
Welsh, 36, was received from San Bernardino County on May 19, 2023. He was sentenced to 18 years for corporal injury on a person within seven years of a prior conviction and assault with a firearm, both second-strike offenses, with enhancements for inflicting great bodily injury involving domestic violence and prior felony conviction of a serious offense.
MCSP, which opened in 1987, houses more than 3,800 minimum-, medium- and maximum-security incarcerated people. The prison, located in Amador County, provides educational, medical and mental health services.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: April 5, 2025
CONTACT OPEC: OPEC@cdcr.ca.gov
