Inmates Suspected in Stabbings Sent to Tighter Security Prison

Authorities at the California Rehabilitation Center have transferred 11 inmates to a tighter security prison in Chino, saying they believe that the men may have been involved in the stabbings of three fellow prisoners.

But no charges have yet been filed, and officials at the medium-security prison have not found the weapons used in Sunday’s violent attack in a prison dormitory, Chief Deputy Supt. Howard Miller said Wednesday.

Authorities still are not sure what motivated Sunday’s attack, in which a group of prisoners rushed into the dormitory and stabbed three other inmates, said Lt. James Clark, spokesman for the Norco prison.

“Nobody knows anything,” he said. “The inmates are very closed-lipped.”

The three victims are black, and all 11 suspects are Latinos, Clark said, increasing correctional officers’ suspicions that the stabbings may have been either gang-related or racially motivated.

Clark declined to specify the evidence that led officers to the 11 suspects, whose names have not been released. They will be held at the California Institution for Men in Chino while the investigation continues, he said.

“It could be narrowed down; the numbers (of suspects) may go up,” Clark said. “It’s really hard to say.”

The three injured inmates--Vinnie Sharper, 24; Norbert Luke, 34, and Flentard Coleman, 20--returned to the Norco prison Wednesday. They were taken to Riverside General Hospital after the stabbing, Miller said.

Inmates in Unit 3--about a third of the 3,400 men in the Norco facility--remained under increased security measures Wednesday, although restrictions have been eased since Monday, Miller said.

The rest of the prison has already returned to its normal security level, Clark said.