Riverside County Murderer Kills Teen Prison Inmate: CDCR

LASSEN COUNTY, CA — A man convicted of murdering a homeless man in Riverside County nearly 20 years ago has now been accused of killing a 19-year-old prison inmate.

Michael Steven Ellison, 39, was first sentenced to state prison from Riverside County in 2004 to serve a life-with-parole sentence for second-degree murder. On Tuesday, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation announced that Ellison and another inmate, 30-year-old Christopher Dolan, attacked and killed Michael Hastey at High Desert State Prison in Lassen County.

According to the CDCR, prison staff saw Dolan and Ellison attack Hastey with manufactured weapons in one of the institution’s exercise yards at around 11 a.m. Friday.

Prison officers responded by using chemical agents and batons to quell the incident. Hastey was transported to a prison medical facility for treatment of his injuries but died shortly after the attack at 12:05 p.m. Friday, the CDCR reported.

Hastey was sentenced to state prison from Trinity County on June 14, 2021, to serve a life-with-parole sentence for first-degree murder. Dolan, 30, was sentenced to state prison from Ventura County on March 29, 2017, to serve five years, eight months for assault with force likely to produce great bodily injury, and resisting/deterring an officer with threats of violence.

According to The Press-Enterprise, Ellison was convicted of second-degree murder in Riverside County after taking part in the fatal beating of a homeless man in a downtown Riverside parking lot in 2003.

Ellison's record while incarcerated showed he had a propensity toward violence against other inmates. He was sentenced for crimes while in prison, including, among other convictions, assault on a prisoner with a deadly weapon likely to produce great bodily injury and possession/manufacture of a deadly weapon by a prisoner as a second-striker.

The Lassen County Sherriff’s Office and the HDSP Investigative Services Unit are investigating Friday's fatal incident, according to the CDCR.