At a prison in Folsom, California a riot involving 60 inmates ended up in 1 inmate shot and wounded and 13 other inmates sent to the hospital with “stab and slash wounds and head trauma.” Officers at the prison fired six bullets during the riot. Click below to read more.
A prisoner was shot and wounded and 12 others were sent to the hospital with “stab and slash wounds and head trauma” after a riot involving 60 inmates broke out Wednesday at a prison in Folsom, California, officials said.
Officers at California State Prison-Sacramento – which houses mostly maximum-security inmates – fired six bullets from a rifle during their efforts to stop the fighting, according to a statement on the prison’s website.
California’s state prisons have been plagued by hunger strikes, occasional violence and overcrowding and remain at more than 50 percent above capacity, despite a massive shifting of low-level offenders to county jails that began last year, Reuters reported.
The effort to shift the prison population followed a U.S. Supreme Court directive to cut the state inmate population to 110,000 after the nation’s top court ruled that overcrowding in the 33-prison system was causing “needless suffering and death.”
‘Blast dispersion rounds’
The prison statement said the riot began at 11:17 a.m. local time Wednesday (2:17 p.m. ET).
“Correctional peace officers used less-than-lethal force options including blast dispersion rounds to stop the riot. Officers also discharged six rounds from the Mini 14 rifle. One inmate suffered a gunshot wound and was taken to an area hospital for treatment,” the statement said.
“Another 12 inmates were taken to area hospitals for treatment of injuries including stab and slash wounds and head trauma. Four of the 12 were treated and returned to the prison. Several other inmates suffered minor injuries and were treated at the prison,” it added.
Four weapons that had been made by the inmates were found by officers, the statement said. No staff members were injured.
The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation sent a “Deadly Force Investigation Team” to investigate the use of the rifle and a review board will also conduct a “full and complete review of the incident,” the statement said.
