On June 18, 2025, Melissa Hipple was informed that her son, Collin Davis, had taken his own life in his prison cell. It was particularly heartbreaking because Collin had been making so many contributions from prison. He was training dogs to assist disabled people and had recently founded a hospice program for ill and elderly prisoners at the Men’s Colony at San Luis Obispo, where he was confined. He continued drawing and painting, and had a girlfriend who was a civilian on the outside, part of the dog program.
Excerpts from the Interview with Melissa Hipple
“I wish he had known that the guys who had gotten out of prison, who were in the dog program with him, were all out there waiting for him. I wish he had known that, and I wish they could have been in contact with him, but I don’t think they’re allowed to when they’re out on parole.”
“He was tired and couldn’t do it anymore. I always told him from the first day he went into Pelican Bay [prison], if it ever gets to that point where you just can’t do it anymore, it’ll kill me. It will absolutely kill me.”