More California Prisoners Riot

Anthony Pignataro:

Looks  like more California prison inmates are rioting, this time at a facility in Arizona that only holds prisoners from the Golden State. On Dec. 23, 43 inmates (initial reports said 110) broke out in violence at Red Rock Correctional Center in Eloy, Arizona.

“Staff responded immediately and quelled the disturbance quickly,” stated a Dec. 23 press release from the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR). “Staff issued lawful orders to the participating California inmates to end the altercation and then used pepper spray. Inmates complied with orders, and within 10 minutes the inmates stopped fighting and lay down.”

According to the CDCR, 10 inmates suffered “moderate to serious injuries.”

Red Rock, which has been operated by Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) since 2006, has 1,596 beds. No word yet on what triggered the riot — or any of the other riots that have been occurring at California prisons over the last six months, for that matter.

Ironically, as this CDCR press release shows, moving inmates to facilities like Red Rock was meant to help reduce the overcrowding — the number one cause of inmate violence — that plagues California’s prisons.

DEC. 27, 2010