Thread: San Quentin prison on lockdown after racially charged riot

http://www.kget.com

San Quentin prison on lockdown after racially charged riot
SAN QUENTIN, Calif. (AP) - About 1,800 inmates at California's San Quentin State Prison are on lockdown after a racially motivated riot.

Officials say about 40 Hispanic and black inmates began fighting in the exercise yard Saturday afternoon following a Black History Month event.

A prison spokesman calls it a "planned assault" by the Hispanic prisoners. One inmate was injured and at least four homemade knives were found.

Earlier this month, 16 inmates were injured in another racially motivated riot at San Quentin, in which prisoners used weapons made from razors, pens and bed springs.

More than 100 inmates have been injured and two killed in a series of racially motivated brawls this month in the Los Angeles County jail system.

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http://www.alipac.us/article-1074-thread-1-0.html

Isn't DUHVERSITY grand?

This is almost getting to be a daily occurence in California.

http://www.latimes.com/news/printeditio ... california

More Violence Erupts at Pitchess
Black and Latino inmates clash at the north county jail, leaving 13 injured.
By Richard Winton and Sharon Bernstein
Times Staff Writers

March 1, 2006

Two new clashes in the Los Angeles County jail system Tuesday injured more than a dozen inmates and raised new concerns about the Sheriff's Department's effort to clamp down on the violence.

The disturbances at the Pitchess Detention Center, involving more than 100 black and Latino inmates, come nearly a month after the beginning of a series of racial brawls that has left two inmates dead and more than 100 injured.

The Sheriff's Department had achieved some success in reducing the violence. But officials said the latest violence involved some inmates who had just arrived in jail and were not involved in the earlier melees.

Sheriff Lee Baca said Tuesday that the new flare-ups underscore the fact that the jails remain filled with agitators trying to fan racial tensions — even among new inmates.

"I think there are people within our jail system that are still trying to create those flashpoints," Baca said. "It is definitely going to continue because we don't have enough isolation cells available to separate everyone we'd like."

The Sheriff's Department has tried to segregate violent inmates whom they consider troublemakers who might be trying to start fights. But Baca said this is proving difficult and acknowledged that officials might never separate all of them.

"Our plan minimizes violence, but will never eliminate violence," Baca said. "This is not a school. This is not a sports team. These are criminals…. These are guys who are set to go off at any moment."

The Sheriff's Department has segregated about 500 inmates involved in the early conflicts. The department plans to transfer them to a few floors of the modern Twin Towers jail in downtown Los Angeles later this month and shift women housed there to a Lynwood jail facility.

Officials said the fights at Pitchess have escalated in large part because violent inmates are housed together in large dorm-style rooms rather than in cells. The Twin Towers facility has cells.

The first Pitchess brawl erupted Feb. 4. Hundreds of inmates fought, leaving dozens injured and black inmate Wayne Tiznor dead.

Tuesday's fight began at about 7:30 a.m. and involved 94 black and Latino inmates. One inmate was treated at a hospital for rib and head injuries and 12 others received minor injuries.

Sheriff's officials believe the conflict may have been orchestrated, because the inmates involved were in two separate areas holding 54 and 40 detainees, sheriff's officials said.

The fighting started in one dormitory and within seconds inmates in the other dormitory began brawling, said sheriff's spokesman Steve Whitmore.

Guards used tear gas, rubber sting balls and pepper balls to stop the fighting and placed the entire facility in lockdown. Afterward, deputies searched inmates for weapons. The two dorms each held an almost even number of Latino and African American inmates, Whitmore said.

The fight followed another scuffle in the facility 40 miles north of Los Angeles about 10 p.m. Monday in a processing area for new inmates where about 40 detainees fought along racial lines. One inmate suffered what sheriff's officials described as minor injuries.

"Ninety-nine percent of these inmates didn't want to fight, but once a fight begins inmates divide along racial lines and their code demands they fight," Baca said.

http://www.signonsandiego.com

Seventeen inmates injured in two L.A. County jail brawls


ASSOCIATED PRESS

12:16 p.m. February 28, 2006

LOS ANGELES – Black and Hispanic inmates brawled Tuesday in a new round of racial violence in the Los Angeles County jail system, sheriff's authorities said.
Fighting involving 94 inmates erupted about 7:30 a.m. at the North County Correctional Facility in Castaic, just hours after a Monday night scuffle among new detainees there, sheriff's spokesman Steve Whitmore said.

The big fight started in one dormitory and spread to a second. Guards used tear gas, rubber “stingballs” and pepperballs to quell the fighting within minutes.

One inmate was hospitalized in stable condition with head cuts and 13 others were treated for less severe injuries, Whitmore said. No guards were hurt.

“We do not know what began the fighting,” he said.

The brawling inmates were stripped of their trousers for an hour so guards could search the clothing for weapons but none were found, Whitmore said.

The entire jail, 40 miles north of downtown Los Angeles, was locked down, meaning inmates were confined to their dormitories and rooms except to shower and eat, Whitmore said. In addition, inmates in the two dorms where fighting occurred lost such privileges as receiving mail and visits.

About 10 p.m. Monday, inmates scuffled in a processing area for new detainees. Deputies ended the fight with commands, Whitmore said.

That fight started between two detainees and others joined in. About 40 black and Hispanic inmates were in the holding area but it was unclear how many fought, Whitmore said.

One inmate was treated for a nose injury and two others had scratches and bruises, Whitmore said.

The North County facility is where the first and largest in a series of fights between blacks and Hispanics occurred on Feb. 4. One inmate was killed in that battle.

Since then there have been other brawls at jails in Castaic and downtown Los Angeles, and another inmate collapsed and died after one of those fights.

Until Monday's incident, the violence had ebbed as sheriff's officials isolated ringleaders, took away inmate privileges and transferred some inmates to state prisons.