 |
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
[ zurück ]
Riots in CaliforniaFebruary 2006einige berichte zu den als riots bezeichneten auseinandersetzungen in den knästen in kalifornien, bei denen 2 menschen getötet wurden. wieviele verletzt wurden, die bullen benutzten gummigeschosse und tränengas gegen die gefangenen, ist nicht bekannt. es gibt unterschiedliche bewertungen der auseinandersetzungen. in den meisten zeitungsartikeln wird von "race-riots" geschrieben, wobei in einigen artikeln behauptet wird, es gehe dabei um kämpfe zwischen latino - und afroamerikanischen gangs die es außerhalb des knastes gibt und die jetzt im knast weiter geführt werden. in dem artikel von alternet ,die sich mit leuten aus gang intervention gruppen unterhielten, wird dagegen gesagt, das die behauptung von race-riots eine ausrede sei, es gehe in den auseinandersetzungen um macht und geld. zwar seien die gruppen ethnisch getrennt, dies läge aber am knastsystem. in kalifornien war es bis im letzten jahr üblich die gefangenen nach ethnien getrennt zu inhaftieren, dann wurde dies durch ein supreme court urteil verboten, bzw. nur in ausnahmefällen erlaubt. jetzt sind einige der knäste wieder getrennt, angebl. um afroamerikanische gefangene zuschützen, da sie gegenüber den latinos in der minderzahl seien. die knäste sind unter lockdown, erst seit letzter woche können die gefangenen wieder briefe schreiben, aber immer noch nicht telefonieren oder besuche bekommen. den gefangenen wurde fast alles weggenommen, einigen sogar die kleidung. bisher sind etwa 200 gefangene in andere knäste verlegt worden, weitere 400 werden in den nächsten tagen folgen. The Myth of L.A.'s Race War25. februar 2006 J.R. has spent 12 of his 28 years behind bars for attempted murder, assault with a deadly weapon and discharging a firearm, among other things. His broad back is covered with tattoos of women, marijuana leaves, cars, guns. The images were etched into him with a tattoo gun made from a Walkman motor, a guitar string and a single needle. Like the majority of men behind bars in Los Angeles County, J.R. was a gang member. Which gang, he declines to say. The calculated intimidation factor of his tattoos and his gangbanging past were necessary for survival during his years on the streets and in prison, and are now necessary for his job. Amidst the brightly colored buildings of Hispanic East L.A., J.R. works as a motivational speaker for Homies Industries, a cornerstone of L.A.'s community of gang intervention organizations. He has been rehabilitated, not by the system but by the combination of parenthood, religion and the realization that gang life almost inevitably leads to prison or death. In the neighborhoods he works, kids are more likely to listen to tattooed ex-cons than cops or teachers, and this ex-con is hoping to steer kids away from gang life and toward education and jobs. J.R. is not alone in this mission. Over the last couple of decades, a cadre of reformed gangsters has created a community that exists in a netherworld between law enforcement and gang life, working to prevent crime and simultaneously keep the trust and respect of gang members. Along with Homies Industries, there are organizations like Unity One, Unity T.H.R.E.E., Homies Unidos, Amer-I-Can and NO GUNS, which negotiate ceasefires between rival gangs, and provides tattoo removal, job training and life skills classes. The gang intervention workers know what goes on in the streets, jails and prisons better than pretty much anyone else. And recently, they have felt a sense of familiar wariness at the news of the violent, racially charged riots that erupted in L.A. County's jails. For more than two weeks, headlines have been telling the story of sporadic violence inside the jails that has led to two deaths. The first articles reported that so-called brown-on-black violence began when the Mexican Mafia greenlighted Latino gang members to attack African-American inmates. Later, the sheriff's department said white inmates began the attacks on a black inmate, Wayne Tiznor, the first man to be killed. Though the stories about what sparked the riots have changed, the race war hype stuck. "When you're on the outside looking in, you are looking for a political answer. And calling it a race riot is the quickest political answer," says J.R., who is Latino. It's both a sensational and digestible way to frame the crisis. "It's like 'Ten o'clock tonight! Mexicans killing blacks! Only on Fox 11 News!' That's what grabs people's attention." But really, he says, "it's about power, money, and dope." The race-riot narrative simplifies and masks a much more complex tragedy in which racism may be the result of violence, but not its cause. L.A.'s sorely inadequate jails are the setting for a story that has many more antagonists than heroes. And it is a tragedy that begins and ends in the neighborhoods where many of L.A.'s inmates come from -- Compton, Boyle Heights, Inglewood and East L.A. -- where gang intervention workers like J.R. are working to calm the waters and dispel the destructive myth of a new black-Latino race war. Power and insignificance Feb. 4: "In rioting triggered by racial tensions, more than 2,000 inmates went on a four-hour rampage Saturday at a maximum-security jail in Castaic, leaving one prisoner dead and nearly 50 others injured." --L.A. Times "This is more about power, not about whether Latinos hate blacks. It's about who gets to decide what's on television," says Father Greg Boyle, a Jesuit priest who founded Homies Industries and is a highly respected leader of gang intervention in L.A. "I think this has very little to do with race." Father Boyle's statement may sound dismissive, but it is true that the flames of large scale violence behind bars are often sparked by seemingly insignificant things. For example, Shonteze Williams, a gang intervention worker who spent years in Corcoran State Prison remembers a battle in 1998 that began when a Latino inmate cut in front of a black inmate while they were waiting to use the phone. The ensuing melee involved hundreds of men and left Williams with 22 stitches in his arm. Williams says black and Latino inmates automatically divided along racial lines in the fight, because "you have to stick with your own." It's this kind of group mentality that leads to a "never-ending game" behind bars, says Williams. At an emotional level, incarceration is the act of stripping someone of their self-determination, and in a street culture that values masculine pride, power and dominance, this is acute. Any minor affront is fraught with the possibility of violence. "It's a little bit like rape. Rape has nothing to do with sex. It has to do with power," says Father Boyle. The violence manifests along a racial divide, but racism is not the cause. Steve Whitmore, Sheriff's Department spokesman, recognizes this as well: "The conflict was divided along race, but the reason it happened was that it is the culture of the jails. What fuels the fights is the tension in the jails." Violence has erupted frequently in L.A.'s jails, where overcrowding, understaffing and underfunding have historically been part of the system. In the last few months, seven major fights have been reported in L.A.'s jails, and in the Men's Central facility alone, eight inmates were murdered in under three years. The jails saw similar rioting in 2000, 1996, 1985 and 1972. Since the riots began, the county has been in a tailspin of fingerpointing. "Who should the fall person be? They try to make [Sheriff] Lee Baca the fall guy. Or they try to blame the county," says Bo Taylor, founder of the gang-intervention organization, Unity One. "Well, it should be society. We allowed this to happen." These problems are not confined to L.A. County jails or California's prisons, but are part of the larger prison industrial complex set up across the nation. Similar stories are told everywhere of corrupt corrections officers, inmate hierarchies, overcrowding, mistreatment, and -- always -- violence. What's unique to California is its historic reliance on segregation as a method of managing inmates. Riots and segregation Feb 5: "Violence broke out again late Sunday, this time at the Pitchess Detention Center North 10 inmates were injured in the violence that broke out just before 10:30 p.m. at Pitchess. [Deputy Alba] Yates said the incident involved approximately 170 Latino and 35 black inmates who 'divided on racial lines and fought'." --L.A. Times Bo Taylor is a clean-cut black man with a bald head, neatly trimmed goatee, and a tattoo on his inner forearm that reads "God's First" in an elaborate script that takes a moment to decipher. "I've had this 14 years," Taylor says. "People look at it and see something negative before they even read what it says. But that's OK. I want people to prejudge us," he says, because people need to realize their initial judgments are often wrong. "They say you can't judge a book by its cover. I say you can't judge a book by its first chapter." Taylor does not have an office; he conducts meetings in a Mexican diner housed in a bowling alley near mid-city Los Angeles, and is interrupted every four minutes by the ring of his cell phone. When the discussion turns to the jail riots and segregation, Taylor sighs. Gang intervention workers repeatedly say that segregation is necessary right now simply to save lives. In the same breath, they say cops and the penal system reinforce the racial antagonism. "Most inmates have a 6th- or 7th-grade education level," Taylor says. "They don't know how to make decisions. They have no tools to figure things out, and once the media gets involved they start saying things that aren't necessarily true and adding fuel to the fire," he says, referring to the racial component of the coverage. "When you look at a jail, you look at groups of whites, blacks, Asians, Hispanics and then others. People can't use the same phones, or use the same toilets. Someone has implemented a system based on racism." For decades, California segregated its prison inmates by race. Last year, a Supreme Court decision outlawed the practice and the state is still in the midst of changing its segregation policies. L.A. County has followed suit, stating that it will only segregate inmates in times of emergency. That time came when the riots began Feb. 4, and since then deputies have segregated some jails by race and ethnicity largely in attempts to protect black inmates, who are outnumbered by Latinos. "It makes it easier for them to control you, but it promotes hatred. There are boundaries set up by the institutions," says Ralph, a Latino volunteer for Taylor's organization and an ex-con who was released from prison last year. (Like many former gang members, he declined to give his last name.) "It's hard to say if it would be better without segregation. It's been etched into prison life." Taylor believes that segregation is appropriate now, but still holds that race has been used as the scapegoat. "You have to take into consideration that [if you are incarcerated], you don't have a job, you don't have a house or a car, you might not even have a family when you come out. You are a frustrated person! To say it is a race riot is a blanket statement." Gangs and communities Feb. 8: "Nearly 500 inmates fought Wednesday in racially charged melees at Pitchess Detention Center in Castaic, marking a fifth day of violence in the Los Angeles County jail system and underscoring officials' inability to stop unrest tied to street conflicts between Latino and black gangs." --L.A. Times Shonteze Williams Sr. euphemistically calls gangs "communities." His community is the Harlem 30 Crips. Williams is careful to differentiate between gangbangers -- those who commit crimes and use violence -- and gang members, who are part of the "community" but not necessarily part of the criminal element. "I still have a gangbanger's heart but not a gangbanger's mind," says Williams, who considers himself the voice of reason and peace within the Crips. Sitting in an office in South Central L.A. that relies entirely on donations and volunteers, Williams talks about the camaraderie of gang life and his belief that gang members can help make positive changes. He believes you don't have to leave the gang to do that: "To be giving back to the community you grew up in, that you used to cause havoc in? Man, that's a beautiful thing." Williams understands what a lot of law enforcement bureaucrats fail to recognize -- that gang life offers a powerful sense of belonging, the thrill of street life, and a surrogate family to replace absent fathers and strung-out mothers. The group adhesiveness is based partly on a common enemy, and gangs operate much like their own nations by protecting borders, finding symbolism in "flags" or colors, and declaring war on rival gangs. The national values are pride and dominance. Rules are enforced by violence and intimidation. The rules that apply in jail are established out here, where even during ceasefires men are afraid of looking weak. Williams helped negotiate a ceasefire among 12 gangs that began after the death of Stanley "Tookie" Williams, a founder of the Crips who was executed in December. Even then, those agreeing to the ceasefire were not agreeing to turn the other cheek, says Williams; only not to be the aggressors. "But either way the result is the same -- peace. And credit needs to be given to the gang members for doing that." A large part of what gang intervention workers do is control rumors and calm tensions before retaliation takes place. On this particular night, Williams plans to get some information on a recent shooting that left a teenager dead. He hopes to comfort family members and simultaneously quell any plans for vengeance. The community of gang intervention workers across L.A. is hoping to do the same on a larger scale. Williams is part of an effort to strategize how to keep the peace on the streets when hell breaks loose in the jails. The Unity Collaborative, a gang-intervention network made up of five Los Angeles area agencies, brought together a dozen black and Latino gang-intervention leaders in San Pedro, Calif., just south of William's office. "It's a war out there," one man says at the meeting. Heads nod in agreement. Discussions roam from the current ceasefire in South Central, the peace-building process that is still underway, and the most recent casualty of the jail riots -- a black inmate who died Feb. 12. By the end of the meeting, a mixture of wariness mingled with dogged hope emerged as the men went around the conference table sharing their woes. One spoke about the need for blacks to be unified, another about the upcoming funeral of a 16-year-old who was shot by the cops the day before. There is clearly no immediate end to violence between gangs in or outside of jail, but it is obvious that preventative measures must continue. The men around the table remind themselves that they can't save every life, but that they must keep going in order to save some. Silence and fear [Feb. 17: "Skirmishes between black and Latino inmates broke out again Friday night at Pitchess Detention Center in Castaic Six inmates were slightly injured, including four who were taken to a hospital, after more than three dozen prisoners scuffled." --L.A. Times On Saturday, Feb. 18, the parking lot at the inmate reception center in Pitchess is desolate. As she drives up and catches sight of a piece of paper declaring "No Visits," Elizabeth Schultz feels the wind of hope knocked out of her. Her boyfriend was arrested on drunk driving charges Feb. 6 and since been awaiting trial in the North County Correctional Facility, the same building where the most recent fighting took place. Schultz has been unable to communicate with him because of the lockdown. No mail was allowed in or out until a couple days ago, and inmates are still prohibited to make phone calls or receive visitors. Only the sparsest bit of information is available on the county's inmate information phone line and website, and even that has been more confusing than helpful. Meanwhile, newspaper headlines continued their story of regular race riots being quashed with tear gas, "sting balls" and rubber pellets. Inmates are punished by having privileges taken away, including showers, and most recently, clothes. According to a Feb. 19 New York Times article, deputies attempted to "calm" inmates by taking away their mattresses and forcing them to strip, leaving only blankets to cover themselves. Now, in the cold breeze that gusts across the inmate reception center's parking lot, Schultz peers through the gate, even though the actual jail buildings are behind the hills, far from view. The faint, unnerving sound of gunshots echoes through the air. Every few minutes another car ventures in, another family checks to see if visits are allowed today. A father comes and goes, a mother, a neighbor. A guard at the employee entrance road tells Schultz the jail will probably be on lockdown for another couple weeks. He has no other information. Schultz brushes away tears as she drives away. She is beginning to feel the frustration and outrage at the system gang-intervention workers have been dealing with for decades. "California's answer to gangs is 25-to-life for teenagers," J.R. says. His voice rises in disgust. "You can rape a woman or molest a kid and be out in a few years. That's messed up." As for the jail riots, J.R. declares, "I don't see no color lines. I see struggle and pain." deputies forced inmates to strip18. februar 2006 More than 100 inmates were forced to strip naked and had their mattresses removed for a day earlier this month as sheriff's officials tried to quell two weeks of violence in the Los Angeles County jail system, authorities said. The punishment on Feb. 9 at Pitchess Detention Center was an attempt to calm inmates who had repeatedly attacked each other, even after privileges such as access to mail, television and phones were taken away, Sammy Jones, chief of the custody division, told the Los Angeles Times in Saturday's edition. Sheriff Lee Baca said he supported the move, as long as it was over a short term. He said keeping inmates naked was at the "outer edge of our core values" but was done to save lives. The inmates had blankets to cover themselves, he said. The series of jailhouse clashes -argely between black and Hispanic inmates- began Feb. 4 with a riot involving nearly 2,000 inmates at a detention center dorm in Castaic, about 40 miles north of downtown Los Angeles. The melee left a black inmate dead and almost 100 inmates injured. Last Sunday, a black prisoner arrested for investigation of drug possession died after fighting with three Hispanic inmates, authorities said. It was unclear whether the violence, which occurred in a six-person cell at the downtown Men's Central Jail, was racially motivated, police said. More fighting erupted Thursday when about 40 black, white and Hispanic inmates traded punches for 30 minutes. Four suffered minor injuries, authorities said. Sheriff's officials will ask the district attorney's office next week to file charges against 21 inmates allegedly involved in the violence. Some could face murder charges, authorities said. Los Angeles County has the largest local jail system in the nation with more than 18,000 inmates spread across eight facilities. Mark Rosenbaum, legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California, said the revelations about safety concerns in the dorms, as well as the stripping of inmates as punishment, pointed to a "huge systemic problem." "They don't have the staffing and the facilities to operate a detention and incarceration system according to professional standards," Rosenbaum said. "These are procedures they're making up as they go along because the staffing and facilities and other professional measures are not in place." L-A transfers prisoners after deadly jail riots13. februar 2006 LOS ANGELES After a week of deadly unrest, Los Angeles authorities say they're moving hundreds of county jail inmates to state prisons. The head of the country's biggest jail system says about 200 inmates already have been transferred. Another 400 will follow. Two inmates died during a week of racially inflamed riots at several facilities. A black inmate collapsed and died yesterday after a fight between four Hispanic and two black prisoners. Another black inmate was killed in another incident seven days earlier. At yet another facility, two other fights yesterday had to be broken up tear gas and pellet weapons. Sheriff's Deputy Alba Yates says county officials are "trying to stop all this fighting." Nine Injured In Latest L.A. County Jail Riot13. februar 2006 The latest outbreak of racially charged rioting at a southern California jail sent eight inmates to the hospital with minor injuries, officials said. A ninth inmate was treated at the scene. The fight erupted Saturday at a housing dorm where 86 black and Hispanic inmates were separated by race, sheriff's spokesman Deputy Luis Castro said. Guards fired sting balls at the inmates to break up the riot. No deputies were hurt. Dozens of inmates have been injured and one killed since clashes between Hispanic and black inmates began Feb. 4 at the Pitchess Detention Center in Castaic, about 40 miles (64 kilometers) outside Los Angeles. Small brawls followed throughout the week, including a Friday fight among 73 inmates that took an hour to quell. The latest rioting took place despite a lockdown of all 19,000 inmates in the Los Angeles County jail system. L.A. jail officials try to ID riot leaders10. februar 2006 LOS ANGELES -- Jail officials are studying surveillance tapes to identify the inmates behind about a dozen racially charged brawls over the past week and plan to isolate them to try to stop the violence. The latest fight between Hispanic and black inmates broke out in a locked-down jail dorm early Friday. Two inmates were injured, and it took deputies an hour to restore order using "clear out gas" and sting balls, said sheriff's Sgt. Don Manumaleuna. Large sleeping dorms in the same Los Angeles County jail complex, Pitchess Detention Center, had erupted in fighting twice on Thursday. All seven county jails were locked down for a third day Friday, Manumaleuna said. Sheriff Lee Baca said the fights, which have injured nearly 100 inmates and killed one since Saturday, appear to have been started by Latino gang members as revenge for street feuds. "We are going to (review) extensive video monitoring of inmates to identify the instigators," Baca said. "Those who initiated this are going to be identified. They are going to be isolated. They are going to lose all their privileges, and they are going to be charged with additional crimes." On Thursday, officials hoping to ease tensions at the Pitchess Detention Center, about 40 miles northwest of downtown Los Angeles, allowed 70 clergy members and about two dozen media members in to talk with inmates. A fight broke out among inmates shortly afterward. Los Angeles County jails were the scenes of five large, racially motivated brawls on Wednesday, two on Monday, and rioting on Saturday that killed one man and injured more than 100 others. Deputies Struggle to Quell Violence at Castaic Jail9. februar 2006 Just an hour after a tour by clergy members, Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies struggled this afternoon to halt violence as 200 inmates brawled at the jail facility in Castaic. No injuries were reported in the sixth straight day of racially charged disturbances in the county's jail system. The melee broke out at 1:30 p.m. at the East Facility of the Pitchess Detention Center. Deputies used gas to quell the disturbance. Sheriff Lee Baca's deputies had arranged a tour for 50 clergy members this morning. The tour ended shortly after noon. Sheriff's officials said they are working to move high-risk inmates out of the dormitories where the violence was occurring and into single cells. HUNDREDS OF INMATES RIOT IN SOLEDAD, SEVERAL HOSPITALIZED7. februar 2006 A riot involving as many as 400 inmates broke out this afternoon at a state prison in Soledad, sending four inmates to outside hospitals, according to a prison spokesman. The riot at the Correctional Training Facility began at approximately 2 p.m. in a section of the prison's North Facility that houses approximately 1,400 medium-security inmates, according to prison spokesman Dan Pherigo. Four inmates were transported to local hospitals outside of the prison walls, and Pherigo said tonight he did not know their current conditions. "They appeared stable as they left,'' he said. The prison's North Facility is currently locked down while prison officials investigate the cause of the riot. The investigation could take more than a day, according to Pherigo. The riot was contained by on-duty prison staff and staff from the nearby Salinas Valley State Prison. No guards or staff members were injured in the riot, Pherigo said. Today's riot occurred one week after a riot at San Quentin State Prison that involved about 100 inmates. Twenty-seven inmates were medically treated in the wake of that riot, six for stabbing or slashing wounds, according to prison officials. LA County Jail in Lockdown After Riots6. februar 2006 Most of Los Angeles County's jail system was on lockdown Monday after fighting broke out between blacks and Hispanics at two jails over the weekend. One inmate died in the fighting, and more than 100 others were injured. The lockdown was intended to reduce tensions, and it wasn't clear how long it would remain in effect, said Lt. Robert Craton, a watch commander at the North County Correctional Facility. "We are making every attempt to get back to normal," he said. Black and Hispanic inmates at the North County Correctional Facility were segregated Saturday after the fighting broke out among 1,800 to 2,000 inmates and a black inmate was killed. Craton said the inmates were still separated early Monday. Normally, authorities can't segregate prisoners based on race or ethnicity, but legal advisers said it can be done in emergency situations, said Sam Jones, chief custody officer of the county jail system. The second riot broke out late Sunday at the adjacent North Facility jail, involving about 200 Hispanic and black inmates and wounding 10 people, said Deputy Alba Yates of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department. The North Facility was not on lockdown when the fighting broke out in four dorms, but was locked down afterward, said watch commander Lt. Bob Hudson. Each sleeping dorm holds up to 90 inmates, he said. Los Angeles County Sheriff's Deputy Bill Spear said officials at other jails in the 21,000-inmate system had implemented lockdowns as a precaution, but he didn't immediately know how many. Authorities said they were investigating whether the two weekend riots were related. Saturday's riot appeared to be fueled by a feud between black and Hispanic gangs, investigators said. Wayne Robert Tiznor, a 45-year-old black inmate, was killed during the fighting, though it wasn't clear if he was singled out. He had been jailed after an arrest Jan. 3 for failing to register as a sex offender, sheriff's officials said. It appeared no weapons were used, but inmates tossed mattresses and banged heads against bunk beds, officials said. ONE Dead, 46 Injured in Pitchess Prison Riot5. februar 2006 One inmate was killed and nearly 50 were injured in a race riot Saturday afternoon at North County Correctional Facility in Castaic that may have been sparked by a feud between rival gang members, authorities said. The melee — which was quelled in about an hour — broke out around 3:20 p.m., and was contained primarily to two dormitory areas at the prison, the population of which is approximately 60 percent Latino and 30 percent black, said Sheriff Lee Baca.“(This was) a brown/black incident today,” Baca said, adding the incident may have not only been gang-related, but possible retaliation for the stabbing of a Latino inmate by a black inmate last week at Men’s Central Jail in Los Angeles. Baca said no law enforcement personnel were injured. He described the riot as chaotic, with “inmates yelling, screaming, fighting and using any instrument” to attack other inmates. “In the end there were no winners, and all losers.” In what was one of the larger riots the facility has seen, Baca said although nearly 1,900 inmates may have been brawling during the fracas, the violence was primarily contained to a group of about 200 inmates. “It only takes one inmate to start (a riot),” he said. “By racial loyalty, (inmates) will fight whether they want to or not.” Some 200 sheriff’s deputies were on hand, in addition to California Highway Patrol officers, quelling the riot with tear gas, pepper ball guns and “flash-bang” grenades. Seven fire engines and 24 ambulances also responded to the prison. “Everything is under control,” Baca said at a news conference shortly after 7 p.m. “The staff handled it as well as could be expected.” The one fatality was a 45-year-old black inmate, who was a registered sex offender. Authorities were not confident of the cause of death, but Baca said it appeared to be blunt force trauma. Twenty inmates suffered serious injuries and were transported to hospitals including Henry Mayo Newhall Memorial Hospital. Twenty-six inmates suffered minor injuries, and were either treated at the jail facility or taken to area hospitals. The majority of injuries, he said, were blunt force-related, caused by inmates hurling bunk beds and other heavy metal items down on the mob from the second floor of the dormitory. The jail is a maze of concrete hallways and dormitories that each house hundreds of inmates, totaling just under 4,000. Each small dorm holds 60 to 70 inmates. They sleep on steel bunk beds and spend their entire day inside the cell. If the dorms are crowded, the inmates sleep on mats on the floor. The facility is overseen by the sheriff’s department, and staffed by 36 female and 181 male deputies. On Saturday evening, Baca received an anonymous note which had been handed off to a prison guard, reading: “No disrespect, but if blacks come in any dorms we will fight. We do not want to go against the sherriffs (sic)! Please separate us race by race for EVERYONE’S safety. Thank you for your time. Sincerly (sic), all inmates.” It was the first time he’d received such a note, Baca said. In order to maintain some semblance of order, he said as of Saturday he was segregating all black and Latino inmates, flying in the face of a February 2005 U.S. Supreme Court ruling preventing the practice. “Me and the ACLU can sit down and have a long talk,” he said. “Human life is more important than appearance.” CALIF. Prison Race Riots Kill One Inmate... 2,000 Involved...5. februar 2006 A racially charged riot pitting hundreds of Latino inmates against blacks at a Los Angeles-area prison on Saturday left one inmate dead and about 50 injured, officials said. By Saturday evening, the fighting at the Pitchess Detention Center about 20 miles north of Los Angeles was contained, and several hundred guards, who had repeatedly fired tear gas inside the prison, were in control of the facility, Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca told reporters. At one point, up to 2,000 inmates were involved in the fighting on Saturday. Most of the injuries were caused when inmates hurled bunk beds and other objects from a second-floor tier onto a brawling crowd of hundreds of inmates below, the sheriff's department said in a statement. The sheriff's department said that the riot in the all-male prison may have been in retaliation for the stabbing of a Latino inmate by a black inmate earlier this week at the Men's Central Jail, a major downtown Los Angeles facility. "It is essentially a brown-on-black incident today. What happens in the street will also carry over into the county jails," Baca said in a televised news conference. Baca said police had earlier received an anonymous, hand-written letter from an inmate warning of more violence between Latino and black inmates and urging, "please separate us by race for everyone's safety." Officials at one point set up a triage area to evaluate the injured inmates. The most seriously hurt, including some 10 with critical injuries, were sent off in dozens of waiting ambulances to nearby hospitals for treatment. The dead inmate was identified only as a 45-year-old black man and a convicted sex offender. Baca said retribution for his sex crime conviction could have been a contributing factor in the violence. The prison has been the site of more than 150 racially motivated brawls since 1990, police have said. Most of those altercations pitted black inmates against Latinos. In a 2000 riot, 81 inmates were injured at the prison. The facility is built to house 3,800 inmates but the exact number detained there as of Saturday was not immediately available, said Los Angeles County Sheriff's Deputy Tanya Plunkett. The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department put a lockdown in effect for the six jails across the sprawling county that house some 18,500 inmates to keep the violence from spreading. The Men's Central Jail in downtown Los Angeles houses over 6,300 inmates, making it one of the largest jails in the country. A special counsel has recommended that facility be closed, saying it mixes violent offenders with lower-risk inmates and could be subject to a violent takeover by prisoners, according to the Los Angeles Times. In November, two gang members housed at the downtown jail tortured and killed a fellow inmate, repeatedly stomping on him and beating him with metal trays while over 20 other inmates looked on, according to prosecutors. The two suspects in that murder could face the death penalty. HUNDREDS OF INMATES RIOT IN SOLEDAD, SEVERAL HOSPITALIZED2. februar 2006 A riot involving as many as 400 inmates broke out this afternoon at a state prison in Soledad, sending four inmates to outside hospitals, according to a prison spokesman. The riot at the Correctional Training Facility began at approximately 2 p.m. in a section of the prison's North Facility that houses approximately 1,400 medium-security inmates, according to prison spokesman Dan Pherigo. Four inmates were transported to local hospitals outside of the prison walls, and Pherigo said tonight he did not know their current conditions. "They appeared stable as they left,'' he said. The prison's North Facility is currently locked down while prison officials investigate the cause of the riot. The investigation could take more than a day, according to Pherigo. The riot was contained by on-duty prison staff and staff from the nearby Salinas Valley State Prison. No guards or staff members were injured in the riot, Pherigo said. Today's riot occurred one week after a riot at San Quentin State Prison that involved about 100 inmates. Twenty-seven inmates were medically treated in the wake of that riot, six for stabbing or slashing wounds, according to prison officials. [ zurück ] |