Central Prison in Raleigh on lockdown after inmate is killed in an assault

An inmate housed at Central Prison in Raleigh died Friday morning after being assaulted with a weapon by “several other offenders,” the North Carolina Department of Public Safety said.

Ronald S. Rhodes, 35, was assaulted around 9:30 a.m. in the recreation yard of the prison. While the prison’s first responders and local paramedics tried to resuscitate him, he died about an hour later, DPS said in a news release.

The facility at 1300 Western Blvd., near downtown Raleigh, has been placed on lockdown as State Capitol Police investigate the death.

Rhodes was being held in the prison as a “safekeeper” at the request of Wake County, which means he was being held temporarily in a state prison facility pre-trial.

County jails request that state prisons take in safekeepers for reasons including treatment for mental or physical health, to avoid housing co-defendants together or if the individual’s safety has been threatened.

The medical examiner will determine a cause of death.

DPS is currently conducting an internal investigation into the matter.

Inmate sentence history

Rhodes was charged three different times in Wake County in 2021, including simple assault and felony solicitation to commit human trafficking.

Rhodes’ criminal history includes convictions spanning from 2004 to 2015 involving felony kidnapping charges, felony extortion, and possession of firearm by a felon sentenced to prison, according to the Department of Public Safety information.

Rhodes has been on the North Carolina Sex Offender Registry since September 2004, records show. He was convicted of second-degree kidnapping involving a 12-year-old when he was 16, records show.