Deputies arrested a 25-year-old Meridian man in connection with the beating death of his cell mate at the Idaho State Correctional Institution early Saturday morning.
Inmate Colton J. Reagan is charged with first degree murder.
Prison officials began their investigation around 2:25 a.m. Saturday when they discovered there had been an altercation in Reagan’s cell and found his cellmate — 57-year-old Gerald B. Cummings Jr. — unresponsive with injuries that appeared consistent with a beating.
Prison staff began immediate life-saving measures and called for paramedics, who arrived a short time later but were not able to revive Cummings, who was pronounced dead shortly after 3:30 a.m.
Ada County Sheriff’s Office detectives spent much of the morning collecting evidence and doing interviews. Reagan and Cummings Jr. were the only two people in the cell at the time of the altercation.
Deputies arrested Reagan Saturday morning, and prison officials moved Reagan to a different cell on the IDOC campus.
Reagan is expected to make his initial court appearance Monday afternoon.