Riot Erupts at Lompoc Penitentiary

A riot erupted Sunday at the federal penitentiary and several inmates and guards were injured, authorities said. The cause wasn’t immediately disclosed.

Lloyd Conley, a spokesman for Vandenberg Air Force Base, which borders the penitentiary, said prison officials confirmed to Lompoc police that there was a riot. But officials at the police and fire departments, as well as hospital workers, said they were instructed by prison officials not to comment.

Prison spokesman Joe Henderson did not return repeated phone calls and messages.

An emergency room nurse at Marian Hospital in Santa Maria, about 30 miles north of Lompoc, said two guards from the federal prison were in stable condition there. Authorities who would only speak on condition of anonymity said guards and inmates were hurt, and some were taken to Lompoc Hospital.

A 1995 riot at the maximum-security facility began in the cafeteria and spilled into a number of cellblocks, and almost led to a takeover of the prison.