11 Stabbed in California Prison Riot After Notorious Attempted Escapee Killed
Authorities say infamous “San Quentin Six” conspirator Hugo Pinell* was killed and 11 other inmates were hospitalized with stab wounds on Wednesday after a riot involving about 70 inmates at California State Prison, Sacramento, KHTK reports.
#EDHFire M85 assisting #FolsomPrison with possible stabbings. Units transporting to local hospitals.
August 12, 2015
According to prison officials, a fight involving “inmate-made weapons” broke out in one of the facility’s general population yards just before 1 p.m. From The Sacramento Bee:
Officials said guards used pepper spray and at least two warning shots from a Mini 14 rifle to quell the disturbance, which occurred with inmates using weapons they had fashioned themselves.
Corrections officials said in a statement that “numerous inmates were injured,” including five taken to an outside hospital for treatment. The others were being treated at the prison.
*UPDATE 12:00 a.m.: According to CBS News, the slain inmate was 71-year-old convicted rapist Hugo Pinell, famous for participating in an escape attempt that left six dead at San Quentin Prison in 1971.
“He was definitely the target,” a corrections department spokesperson told the news network.
Forty-four years ago, Pinell helped slit the throats of San Quentin prison guards during an escape attempt that led to the deaths of three guards, two inmate trustees and escape ringleader George Jackson, who was fatally shot as he ran toward an outside prison wall, according to Associated Press stories.
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Correctional Officer Urbano Rubiaco Jr. survived to later testify that Pinell used a knife made of razor blades embedded in a toothbrush handle to slash Rubiaco’s neck.
“He said ‘I love you pigs’ and then he cut my throat,” Rubiaco said. He was one of two guards taken hostage by 25 inmates who were released from their cells during the escape attempt.
[Image via AP Images]