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| California Prison Riot Injures Five |
| By Associated Press |
| Published: 12/21/2001 |
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A state prison in the Mojave Desert remained locked down Friday morning after a prison-yard riot involving more than 300 inmates left five critically injured. The California State Prison, Los Angeles County, had been under lock-down since Dec. 11, when an officer was beaten by four inmates, said Terry Thornton, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Corrections. The inmates were just starting to get some of their privileges back when the fighting broke out Thursday morning. The riot drew in 300 to 400 maximum-security inmates in a recreation yard about 40 miles northeast of Los Angeles, said prison spokesman Ron Nippur. It took less than 15 minutes for officers to quell the violence, he said. The officers used pepper spray, tear gas and wooden bullets on the prisoners before firing several warning shots, said Margot Bach, a Department of Corrections spokeswoman. 'The inmates started to fight, and it just gained momentum,'' with prisoners using fists and homemade weapons, Nipper said. When it was over, authorities recovered 26 homemade weapons. No officers were hurt, but five inmates were hospitalized with puncture wounds and 12 others were treated for cuts, Bach said. By Thursday afternoon, many inmates were confined to their cells. Those from the section of the prison involved in the riot will slowly be returned to their normal routines over several weeks as authorities try to determine what started the fighting and who was directly involved. Those found to be responsible could face criminal charges, Nipper said. The prison was designed to hold 2,200 inmates but has more than 4,000 in its minimum- and maximum-security wings. It was not immediately clear whether crowding may have contributed to the rioting. Overcrowded prisons have been the scene of brawls involving racial unrest in recent years. Last year, a racial brawl involving more than 120 inmates left 10 people injured. In 1999, an inmate was shot by officers during a brawl between whites and Hispanics. But Bach said race didn't appear to be behind Thursday's riot. 'It was multiracial. There wasn't any group attacking any other groups specifically. They all got into it,'' she said. The 262-acre prison opened in 1993 and has more than 1,200 employees. |
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