An inmate already serving time for killing his mother got life without parole for strangling his cellmate at a Malone prison.

Hernandez went into prison at 18 for shooting his mother. He will now never leave it. The case turns a spotlight on a question the plea did not answer: how a man with a prior murder conviction ended up sharing a cell where his cellmate could be found dead under a sheet. Campbell's mother brought his ashes to court. Hernandez said nothing.

Andrew Hernandez was sentenced Monday, Oct. 19, 2026, to life in prison without the possibility of parole for murdering his cellmate at Upstate Correctional Facility in Malone, New York, WPTZ reported. Hernandez pleaded guilty to first-degree murder, a Class A-I violent felony, in Franklin County Court in August, nny360 reported at the time. He was 42 when he entered that plea, according to nny360.

New York State Police said troopers were called to the facility on Bare Hill Road at about 4:30 p.m. on April 6, 2026, for a report of a deceased male. They said Michael J. Campbell, 51, was found unresponsive under a sheet and that the investigation found signs he had been strangled with a shoelace by his cellmate, Hernandez. An autopsy at Glens Falls Hospital by forensic pathologist Dr. Michael S. Sikirica found the cause of death was asphyxia due to ligature strangulation and ruled it a homicide, State Police said. The state Department of Corrections and Community Supervision, the St. Lawrence County District Attorney's Office and the state Attorney General's Office assisted, according to State Police.

Hernandez was already in prison for killing his mother. WPTZ reported he shot her in the back of the head with a rifle in 2001 and was 18 when he was sentenced. WPTZ described that sentence as 19 years, while nny360, citing a prosecution news release, reported he is serving 19.5 years to life on a second-degree murder conviction and that the new sentence runs consecutively to the time he owes on it. According to his mother, Campbell had been serving a 20-years-to-life sentence for stealing a van, WPTZ reported.

In court Monday, Campbell's mother and sister gave emotional statements while carrying his ashes, WPTZ reported. "This is my son Michael. All he wanted was to come home," said his mother, Joan Scotchmer, according to the station. Hernandez chose not to make a statement, WPTZ reported. His guilty plea and Monday's sentence resolve the case in the trial court. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.