He told a prison counselor, two hours beforehand, exactly what he was about to do. The counselor brushed him off.
In January 2020, California inmate Jonathan Watson beat two fellow prisoners to death with a metal cane at the California Substance Abuse Treatment Facility in Corcoran. Both victims, David Bobb and Graham De Luis-Conti, were serving life sentences for sexually assaulting children. Watson later confessed to the killings in a detailed letter to a Bay Area newspaper chain.
A Security Reclassification, and a New Neighbor
Watson, already serving a life sentence for a 2009 murder, had recently been reclassified to a lower security level, moving him out of a single cell and into a shared dormitory pod. He called the move careless and said he'd protested it in writing beforehand. Within days, one of the men later identified as a victim moved into the same pod. According to Watson's letter, the man repeatedly watched children's television programming in view of other inmates, which Watson interpreted as deliberate provocation.
A Warning, Ignored
Watson wrote that he approached a prison counselor about two hours before the attack, warning that he needed to be moved back to higher security before he seriously hurt someone. According to his account, the counselor dismissed the concern. He returned to his housing pod. Later that day, when the television incident happened again, Watson picked up a cane belonging to another inmate and attacked the man. He then encountered a second inmate, also a convicted child sex offender, and attacked him as well before turning himself in to a guard.
Bobb, 48, died the same day. De Luis-Conti, 62, died three days later in a hospital.
A Confession With No Apology
Watson's letter offered no expression of regret. He described himself, as a lifer with little left to lose, as being in an unusual position to act against people he characterized as the worst kind of offenders. The letter drew a genuinely split public reaction — some readers treated it as vigilante justice against men who could no longer be stopped any other way; others pointed out that killing incarcerated people, whatever their crimes, is still a crime, and that Watson's own account described the attacks as premeditated rather than a sudden loss of control.
A Familiar Problem in California's Prisons
The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation declined to comment publicly at the time, citing an ongoing investigation. Watson's case wasn't isolated. That same year, the family of another inmate, Rodney DeLong, filed a federal lawsuit alleging prison officials had knowingly placed him in a cell with a member of a violent prison gang who had already been accused of killing someone — DeLong was stabbed to death within half an hour. Taken together, the cases raised real questions about how California's prison system makes cell and housing placement decisions, and how seriously staff take inmates' own warnings before something happens.
Frequently Asked Questions
Was Jonathan Watson charged for the two killings?
Public reporting on the case doesn't indicate additional charges were filed; Watson was already serving a life sentence at the time of the attacks.
Did the prison acknowledge any failure to act on his warning?
Officials declined to comment publicly at the time, citing an active investigation, and no findings appear to have been released since.
Were the two victims ever named publicly?
Yes — David Bobb, 48, and Graham De Luis-Conti, 62, both serving life sentences for sexually assaulting children under 14.