High Desert State Prison Inmate Stabbed to Death

An inmate at the High Desert State prison has been stabbed to death. Andrew Ryan Thurgood, 26 was serving time for a motor vehicle theft when the stabbing occurred at the corrections facility, located just outside Las Vegas. He was pronounced dead at the Prison Infirmary very soon after the stabbing.

The complete details surrounding his death are not available but it appears that Andrew got into an altercation with two other inmates in the facility day room. The verbal confrontation soon turned violent and he was stabbed multiple times. The staff at the prison facility has identified the two alleged assailants but their names have not been released until more is known.

Andrew Thurgood was sentenced to 12-34 months last year after he was convicted on a felony charge of attempted possession of a stolen car. Carl Arnold, Andrew’s attorney, was contacted and he denied remembering anything odd or unusual about the case.

Based on court records, Andrew Thurgood did have prior felony convictions in 2009 for attempted battery and possession of a stolen car.

This is the same prison where one inmate was killed and another wounded by a guard who had fired a shotgun at them in the later part of November 2014. That incident occurred in the shower hallway. In that case a federal wrongful lawsuit was filed against prison officials by the family of the dead men, Carlos Manuel Perez, Jr. The lawsuit alleged that guards at the detention center intentionally created a “hostile gladiator like scenario.” In this particular incident, the guards allowed two handcuffed inmates to fight before a trainee corrections officer fired a shotgun at the inmates.

Perez, 28, was a two-time felon who had been serving 18-48 months for a violent assault on a man in downtown Las Vegas, a few days prior to Thanksgiving 2012.

The other injured inmate, Andrew Arevalo, 25, has also filed a federal lawsuit against prison officials and guards on the grounds that they used excessive force and showed deliberate indifference to the welfare of prisoners. Both lawsuits have yet to be resolved.

Arevalo was sentenced in 2013 to 2-6 years for a burglary conviction. Just recently Arevalo was denied parole and was transferred to the State’s maximum security prison in Ely where he is being held in isolation.

High Desert State Prison is the largest detention center in Nevada with a capacity of 4,200 prisoners. It holds both medium and high-risk prisoners.