Correctional Officer Robert J. McCarthy

Robert J. McCarthy

Correctional Officer Robert McCarthy was stabbed and killed while working at the Central Correctional Training Facility in Soledad.

Officer McCarthy was mortally wounded at 11:10 pm during the nightly head count in X wing. He was stabbed in the neck when a rape convict called him to a cell under the pretext of mailing a letter.

The convict was also awaiting trial on charges of assaulting a guard in December, 1970. On August 21, 1971, he was involved in a riot at San Quentin Prison that resulted in the murders of three correctional officers, Officer Paul Krasenes, Officer Jere Graham, and Officer Frank Deleon. He was one of six convicts charged with their murders. They became known as the "San Quentin Six" and their 16 month trial was the longest and most expensive in California's history.

Officer McCarthy's killer was sentenced to life and has been denied parole nine times. He was stabbed to death during a prison riot at Folsom Penitentiary on August 12, 2015.

Officer McCarthy had been employed at Soledad since November 1966 and was survived by his wife and two children.