Soledad inmates injured in riot
Four in hospital
By RIA MEGNIN
The Salinas Californian
A riot involving about 350 inmates at the Soledad Correctional Training Facility sent four prisoners to local hospitals Tuesday with major injuries.
"They appeared to be stable," said Public Information Officer Dan Pherigo, "but we really don't know yet the extent of injuries (to other prisoners)." Pherigo said it took about 250 guards, including some from nearby Salinas Valley State Prison, 15 minutes to quell the fighting, which broke out around 2 p.m. No guards were injured.
"We're not sure quite what sparked this yet," he said. "We're going to be interviewing for some time."
Latino, black and white prisoners were involved, he said.
Pherigo said he doesn't believe the incident was tied to recent riots at the North County Correctional Facility in Castaic, which have left one inmate dead and hundreds injured since the first outbreak Saturday. He said fighting at one site doesn't tend to spread to others.
The Soledad riot began in the yard of the North Facility, where about 1,400 of the prison's more than 7,000 inmates are housed. The North Facility was placed on lockdown, and investigators are expected to begin interviewing inmates about the riot today.
Tuesday's riot involved inmate-manufactured weapons and is the largest at the Soledad facility "in some time," Pherigo said.
"There are riots up and down the state of California almost on a daily basis," he said. "It's just something that happens."
Four in hospital
By RIA MEGNIN
The Salinas Californian
A riot involving about 350 inmates at the Soledad Correctional Training Facility sent four prisoners to local hospitals Tuesday with major injuries.
"They appeared to be stable," said Public Information Officer Dan Pherigo, "but we really don't know yet the extent of injuries (to other prisoners)." Pherigo said it took about 250 guards, including some from nearby Salinas Valley State Prison, 15 minutes to quell the fighting, which broke out around 2 p.m. No guards were injured.
"We're not sure quite what sparked this yet," he said. "We're going to be interviewing for some time."
Latino, black and white prisoners were involved, he said.
Pherigo said he doesn't believe the incident was tied to recent riots at the North County Correctional Facility in Castaic, which have left one inmate dead and hundreds injured since the first outbreak Saturday. He said fighting at one site doesn't tend to spread to others.
The Soledad riot began in the yard of the North Facility, where about 1,400 of the prison's more than 7,000 inmates are housed. The North Facility was placed on lockdown, and investigators are expected to begin interviewing inmates about the riot today.
Tuesday's riot involved inmate-manufactured weapons and is the largest at the Soledad facility "in some time," Pherigo said.
"There are riots up and down the state of California almost on a daily basis," he said. "It's just something that happens."
