Inmate dies at downtown Riverside jail
An inmate died in his cell at the Robert Presley Detention Center in downtown Riverside, but there were no indications of foul play, authorities said today.
Luke Hanchette, 44, of Hemet succumbed to unspecified causes shortly before 7 a.m. Wednesday, according to the Riverside County Sheriff's Department.
Jail records show the convicted felon had been in custody since July 2019, awaiting disposition of a double murder case out of Hemet.
In 2021, Hanchette was charged with murdering his cellmate at the John Benoit Detention Center in Indio.
Sheriff's Sgt. Chris Wedel said correctional deputies were alerted that Hanchette was unresponsive in his cell within housing unit 18-C1 and went to investigate.
Discovering the inmate unconscious, they "immediately administered life-saving measures,'' Wedel said.
Paramedics reached the location a short time later and also attempted to resuscitate Hanchette, but it was to no avail. He was pronounced dead at the jail, according to the sergeant.
"There were no signs of foul play,'' he said.
The sheriff's department is currently in litigation over a string of in-custody deaths in the last several years. Most of them have been drug-related or the result of suicide, though others remain undetermined, according to court papers.
