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| Inmates groups battle at Elmwood jail |
| By Mercury News |
| Published: 04/15/2005 |
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A lunch-hour disturbance between two groups of inmates in the minimum security camp at Elmwood Correctional Center in Milpitas, Calif., sent one man to the hospital yesterday with a head injury, but a jail official said the fracas broke up as soon as inmates saw officers approaching with riot helmets and tear gas. Santa Clara County Department of Correction spokesman Mark Cursi said fewer than 10 men were hurt, and that the man sent to the hospital did not appear to have life-threatening injuries. Some of the inmates involved in the fight grabbed brooms kept in the barracks and used them as weapons. He said the trouble broke out at about 12:45 p.m., as inmates milled on the lawn between some barracks, and was over within about 20 minutes. Ten officers from the main jail in downtown San Jose were dispatched to the 900-inmate minimum security camp in Milpitas, but Cursi said they weren't needed to quell to the violence. Sheriff's deputies were called in to back up the officers, too, and some were assigned to patrol the perimeter. Cursi said later that officers were still trying to sort out who was involved. He said 20 to 30 men were being questioned. Some of them will probably be sent to the medium security in the wake of the violence, he said. The fight between the two groups, whom Cursi declined to describe, appeared to have been a ``spontaneous'' clash between two men that quickly escalated in a chain reaction. He said officers try to monitor tensions between all the gangs and groups in the jail, and no unusual episodes had been expected. |
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