Latino and Black Prisoners get Shanked during CA Prison Riot

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Prisoners rioted for 11 hours over the weekend at the California Institution for Men in Chino, about 40 miles east of Los Angeles. The fighting broken down along racial lines with black prison gangs fighting Latino gangs.

The riot injured 250 prisoners and hospitalized 55. No prison employees were injured, no deaths were reported, and no inmates escaped, state officials said. The facility along with 10 others in Southern California is on lockdown.

I have worked inside a California correctional facility and have also experienced a lockdown. During this period, inmate visitations are usually suspended and usual inmate privileges such as recreations time and freedom to move about the area is restricted.

The Chino prison is trying to put into effect a 2005 Supreme Court decision that prohibits automatic and systematic racial segregation of prison inmates after more than three decades of racial separation in the corrections system, according to an article in the New York Times.

Inmates could now opt out of segregation and that a growing number of black, Latino and white prisoners shared cells, increasing racial tensions in the prison, said a spokesman, Lt. Mark Hargrove.

“All races had injuries,” Lieutenant Hargrove said of the weekend riot. “But there are a greater number of injuries among Hispanic and black inmates. And we did have another incident that occurred in May, a riot between blacks and Hispanics, and this may be associated with that incident.”

Prison officials said they were still questioning inmates to understand what set off the uprising. They said no demands or complaints had been directed at the guards.

Do you think the Supreme Court decision was right to limit segregation in prisons? Our prison riots along racial lines bound to occur? What can be done to reduce the risk of future riots?