A 46-year-old inmate was found dead,  after being unresponsive in his cell at Mule Creek State Prison alone on Wednesday, Oct. 14. The death is being treated as a homicide by the authorities.

Deandre Austin, 46, was declared dead at 6:30 p.m., within an hour of correctional officers responding to a report of a “man down” in his cell.

Authorities have placed Austin’s cellmate in segregated housing while the investigators are looked into the incident. As of now, it’s still unclear how Austin died.

Austin was sentenced for life with the possibility of parole after being convicted on multiple child sex assault charges, including rape, lewd and lascivious conduct, continuous sex abuse, and penetration with a foreign object. He had been imprisoned since Oct. 2, 2008, upon arriving from Contra Costa County.

The Mule Creek State Prison holds more than 3,800 minimum-to-maximum security inmates.