DELANO – A man serving a sentence of 35 years to life after a 2019 Alameda County conviction for brutally forcing a 15-year-old girl to work for him as a prostitute died Saturday at Kern Valley State Prison, and his death is being investigated as a homicide, authorities said.
Prison officials said the man’s cellmate, who has a previous conviction for assaulting a prisoner, was under investigation in the death.
California prison officials said Monday that Darius J. Swain, 41, died Saturday at Kern Valley State Prison and his death is being investigated as a homicide. Swain was serving a sentence of 35 years to life after a 2019 Alameda County conviction for brutally forcing a 15-year-old girl to work for him as a prostitute in Oakland and other Bay Area cities. (California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation photo)
The inmate who died has been identified as Darius J. Swain, 41.
In a news release Monday, prison officials said that about 3:19 p.m. Saturday officers observed Swain’s cellmate, Gregory Clark, 58, in his cell with blood on his clothing.
Clark was removed from the cell without incident and Swain was found unresponsive in the cell. Medical staff responded and began life-saving measures. Swain was taken to the prison’s medical area, where he was pronounced deceased at 3:48 p.m. Saturday.
Clark was placed in restricted housing while Swain’s death is being investigated, officials said. As of Tuesday afternoon, a cause of death had not been released and the case had not been presented to Kern County prosecutors.
Swain had been incarcerated at the prison since March 18, 2019, officials said. Officials did not say how long he and Clark were cellmates.
Swain was convicted on November 5, 2018, by an Alameda County jury of six felony counts in the case involving a then 15-year-old girl, including human trafficking of a minor with force, pimping of a minor, pandering of a minor, robbery, being a felon in possession of a firearm, and being a felon in possession of ammunition. He has been sentenced to a term of 35 years-to life in state prison.
Girls who were purportedly under Swain’s control described multiple incidents of physical abuse during the time Swain was exploiting them, prosecutors said. On one occasion the defendant broke a girl’s nose because she looked another man in the eyes, a violation of Swain’s rules.
Prosecutors said that in April 20`7, Swain picked up the 15-year-old victim from International Boulevard in Oakland. He demanded that she hand over all of her money, but she refused because she wanted to buy a bus ticket back home. Swain responded by driving her to a desolate area in the Oakland Hills where he stripped her completely naked, beat her, forcibly took her belongings, and abandoned her on the street.
He then drove off and never contacted the girl again. An investigation two months later led police to Swain; they arrested him and seized a handgun.
Prison officials said in the release that Clark, who was Swain’s cellmate, was received from Los Angeles County on March 29, 2011. He was sentenced to 22 years for corporal injury on a spouse/cohabitant, a second-strike offense; an enhancement of use of a deadly weapon; prior prison term; and prior felony conviction of a serious offense. On Jan. 25, 2021, he was sentenced by a Kern County court to two additional years for assault by a prisoner with a deadly weapon. No details on that conviction were immediately available.
Staff writer Nate Gartrell contributed to this report.