A massive riot at a California prison on Wednesday led to eight corrections officers and one inmate being hospitalized, according to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.
Authorities said that 200 inmates at Ironwood State Prison in Blythe “rushed toward the officers attacking them with fists and rocks.” The violent outburst began around 10 a.m. Wednesday when officers were escorting an inmate who was part of a contraband investigation, KCRA reported. The prisoners reportedly rushed the corrections officers after the inmate they were escorting headbutted a staff member and was being subdued.
Officers fired warning shots from their rifles and then used “chemical agents and non-lethal impact rounds” to stop the riot, authorities said in a statement. The eight corrections officers and the inmate who were injured in the melee were treated at a hospital and later released from care. Information on the extent of the corrections officers’ and inmate’s injuries wasn’t available.
Authorities have reportedly identified at least 30 prisoners who had direct involvement in the riot as their investigation continues. Ironwood is a minimum-medium security prison that houses around 2,500 prisoners east of Los Angeles, according to KCRA.
California issued a statewide prison threat warning after the riot on Wednesday, which sparked a 24-hour statewide threat assessment as prisoners were restricted to their cells.
As California imprisons fewer people and some prisons close down permanently, Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom has promised to focus more on rehabilitation. Last year, Newsom announced the transformation of the high-security San Quentin State Prison into a “center for innovation focused on education, rehabilitation and breaking cycles of crime.”
Newsom argued that a greater emphasis on rehabilitation will be better for prisoners and communities in the long run.
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“We’re here to do more and be better, to reconcile and to address the stubborn realities. We are as dumb as we want to be,” he said at San Quentin. “Two-thirds of folks coming out of prison every year, within three years, violate some probation order or commit another damn crime. Where’s the safety in that?”
