CRESCENT CITY – Benjamin W. Watta, who was serving a condemned sentence, died on Dec. 22, 2025, while incarcerated at Pelican Bay State Prison (PBSP). He was 80 years old.

At approximately 11 a.m., Watta was found unresponsive in his assigned cell during an institutional check. Responding staff initiated lifesaving measures and summoned an ambulance. Watta was pronounced deceased by paramedics at 11:37 a.m. The Del Norte County Coroner will determine his official cause of death.

Watta was most recently received from Orange County on Jan. 27, 2009, and placed on condemned status for first-degree murder.

There are currently 579 condemned people in CDCR. More information about capital punishment in California can be found here: https://www.cdcr.ca.gov/capital-punishment/.

PBSP houses minimum, medium, high, and maximum-security male incarcerated persons. The institution opened in 1989, housing approximately 2,200 incarcerated people and employing 1400 staff. PBSP provides vocational, academic, educational, self-help, religious and other rehabilitative programs.