Dozens hurt in prison riot

As many as 1,000 inmates at the Chino state prison rioted for 90 minutes Saturday as guards struggled to stop the violence by firing pepper spray and gas grenades into several barracks, officials said.

Fifty-one inmates were treated for moderate to serious injuries, including one with stab wounds and head trauma, a prison spokesman said. No guards were hurt.

After restoring order, officers placed the 6,400-inmate California Institution for Men on lockdown. Twenty-seven inmates were taken to hospitals.

“The facility was never at risk of being taken over,” said Lt. Mark Hargrove, the prison spokesman.

The riot appeared to be the largest at the prison in recent years. In September 2005, a fight erupted between 270 black and Latino inmates, leaving one critically injured.

Earlier that year, Chino’s warden and two deputy wardens were demoted after an investigation found that mismanagement and security lapses contributed to the stabbing death of a guard. The current warden, Michael Poulos, was not available for comment Saturday.

Another Chino guard was seriously injured in a fight last September. On Dec. 17, officers put down a brawl between 60 black and Latino inmates.

Chino is designed to hold 3,160 prisoners, less than half the number housed there.

Experts have warned that chronic overcrowding in California’s prisons has made the lockups more dangerous to guards and inmates.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has proposed spending $10.9 billion to add 78,000 beds to state prisons and county jails.

Officials said Chino will not take in more inmates until the riot investigation is completed. The prison serves as a reception center for newly convicted felons who are later transferred to other lockups.

Hargrove said investigators had not determined the cause of Saturday’s melee, which broke out about 9:30 a.m. in an inmate reception barracks.

The violence spread quickly to four other barracks, each of which holds about 200 inmates. It continued as guards began firing pepper spray and tear gas into the military-style buildings.

They also fired hard foam bullets and used batons.

The fighting among prisoners was hand-to-hand, and some of the injured had slash wounds. About 11 a.m., after the fighting had subsided, guards started to reenter the barracks and restrain the inmates.

Officers later found numerous homemade weapons, but it was not known if they were used in the riot.

The types of weapons were not disclosed.

Two inmates exchanged the first blows in an exercise yard, officials said. Guards separated the two, but soon afterward large-scale fighting began inside one barracks and then spread.

It is not clear what touched off the fighting.

Hargrove said guards gathered outside the buildings and launched an initial barrage of pepper spray and gas.

He said inmates might have slowed the effect of the chemicals by covering the canisters with blankets and towels.

He said it would take 400 guards to immediately secure a single barracks, which is typically staffed by just two officers.

“We reentered each facility as it was safe to do so,” he added.

San Bernardino County sheriff’s deputies and police officers from Chino and Ontario set up a security perimeter outside the prison.

Spokespeople for those agencies said they encountered no problems.

ron.lin@latimes.com paul.pringle@latimes.com