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| Pelican Bay Incident Quickly Contained |
| By Eureka Times-Standard |
| Published: 01/09/2003 |
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A fistfight that quickly grew to include more than 30 inmates in the 'A Yard' of Pelican Bay State Prison was contained by prison security staff in less than three minutes Thursday afternoon. It was not racially motivated, prison officials said. 'Five inmates were treated for minor injuries, primarily scrapes and bruises,' said Lt. Bryan Johnson, acting public information officer at the prison. 'The results of fighting with fists. One had a small cut over the eye, like he had been hit with a fist.' Although three weapons were recovered by the staff after the yard was cleared, and another was found on an inmate, none of the injuries appeared to be caused by weapons. When the fight broke out around 1:30 p.m., approximately 100 inmate 'workers' were in the Level IV general population yard for their regular exercise time. 'We don't believe it was racially motivated,' Johnson said. 'We believe it was a personal conflict.' Thirty-two inmates became physically involved in the fight before the group was subdued with pepper spray and tear gas. Following the incident, a partial lockdown of the area was made, as is general practice after even small fights to prevent the spread of violence and to aid staff investigation. 'Whenever an incident happens, the inmates know they're all going to be searched,' Johnson said. 'We do a constant, vigilant search for weapons, but the inmates make weapons out of anything they can find.' Any weapons found in the yard were possibly carried for self-defense, he said, not for a planned attack. The inmate found carrying a weapon will be facing disciplinary and possible criminal charges. 'It's been a long time since we've had an incident of this size,' Johnson said. 'We've had real good control since the 2000 riot.' In February 2000, 200 inmates staged an organized riot that resulted in one inmate being shot to death and 24 others treated for major injuries. Johnson credits Warden Joseph McGrath with reducing the level of violence at the prison. 'Warden McGrath has chosen to manage inmates and their behavior in a way that encourages them to do the right thing,' he said. 'It's not a group thing, it's handled case-by-case. We're going to treat you according to your individual behavior.' Inmates know that if they behave badly during their yard time, they will lose the privilege of yard attendance. 'I think it's impacted our level of violence greatly,' Johnson said. |
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