RCMP in British Columbia say they are treating the death of a prison inmate from Moncton, N.B., as a homicide.

Jeremy Michael Phillips, 33, was serving a six-year sentence for aggravated assault at the Mountain Institution in Agassiz, B.C.

He was found dead in his cell on Monday morning.

After reviewing the results of an autopsy, it is clear Phillips was the victim of a homicide, said Cpl. Dale Carr with the RCMP's integrated homicide investigation team.

"This is not a case of a self-inflicted injury caused by Mr. Phillip's own hand ... and we're just moving forward," said Carr.

Phillips was sharing his cell with another inmate at the time of his death.

That inmate, who is 45 and serving a sentence for multiple homicides, is being questioned by RCMP and has been moved to another facility.

He won't be named unless he is charged, and that could take a month or more, Carr said.