SACRAMENTO — An inmate serving a life sentence for child molesting has been killed at a Northern California state prison, officials said Thursday, and his cellmate is considered the suspect.

Deandre Austin, 46, was found unresponsive Wednesday evening in his cell at Mule Creek State Prison in Ione, southeast of Sacramento, and was pronounced dead less than an hour later.

He was serving a life term from Contra Costa County for rape, lewd and lascivious conduct with a child under age 14, continuous sex abuse of a child under 14, penetration with a foreign object with a victim under 14, oral copulation and sodomy.

His cellmate, Rodney Jordan, 29, is serving Los Angeles County sentences for first-degree burglary and second-degree robbery.