San Quentin Death Row Inmate Found Dead In His Cell

SAN QUENTIN (CBS SF) -- An inmate on death row at San Quentin State Prison was found dead in his cell Thursday morning.

Gilbert R. Rubio, 55, was found unresponsive in his single cell during a morning security check, according to a press release from the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.

Paramedics pronounced him dead at the prison. The cause was to be determined by the Marin County Coroner.

Rubio was convicted of the 1998 murder of a Long Beach man during a home-invasion robbery and sentenced to death in 2000. Two others were also convicted in the case and are serving life sentences.

Since California reinstated the death penalty in 1978, 13 inmates have been executed, 70 have died of natural causes, 25 have committed suicide, and eight have died from other causes.

There are 747 inmates currently on San Quentin's death row. The last one executed was Clarence Ray Allen in January of 2006 after 23 years death row.

In December 2006, U.S. District Judge Fogel of San Jose ruled the state's execution procedures constituted cruel and unusual punishment under the Eighth Amendment.