Dozens hurt in Calif. Hispanic-white prison riot

By Adam Tanner

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Hundreds of inmates battled at
San Quentin State Prison on Monday, leaving 39 injured in the
latest eruption of violence between white and Hispanic inmates.

Some inmates used locks or other heavy objects in socks or
caps as weapons in the fight, which prison spokesman Vernell
Crittendon said appeared to start when Hispanic prisoners
attacked whites at breakfast time.

Guards used pepper spray to end the 10-minute fight. Three
of the injured inmates had to be taken to outside hospitals but
Todd Slosek, a spokesman for the California Department of
Corrections and Rehabilitation, said none of the injuries were
life-threatening.

“At about 8:40 this morning we had approximately 400
inmates participating in a riot,” Crittendon said. “Thirty-nine
of them we have been able to identify as needing medical
treatment.”

The riot occurred in a section of the prison housing about
900 inmates who have been under lockdown since Aug. 1 because
of earlier fighting between whites and Hispanics, Slosek said.

“They were preparing to start moving the inmates over for
breakfast,” Crittendon said. “We had them segregated. The
Latino inmates were going to exit and go to breakfast. During
that movement, the initial reports indicate that the Latinos
began to attack white inmates.”

A lockdown means San Quentin temporarily barred inmates in
that section of the prison from recreation in the large yard
where inmates can play everything from tennis to baseball. They
still have opportunities to interact such as when they are
coming and going during meal times.

Prisoners throughout California often self-segregate along
racial lines, sometimes into violent gangs made up of blacks,
Hispanic, whites or other groups.

San Quentin was established in 1852 and is California’s
oldest prison. It has nearly 6,000 prisoners, including inmates
condemned to die such as wife-killer Scott Peterson and
notorious mass murderers.