The State - News from Aug. 28, 1989

A fight involving inmates from the East and West coasts at Lompoc Federal Penitentiary apparently was triggered by two feuding prisoners who organized the groups against each other, officials said. The prison yard fight Friday night involved about 40 to 50 inmates and lasted less than a half hour before it was broken up by guards, said Paul Ortiz, executive assistant to the warden. A “lock-down,” in which each inmate is confined to his cell, remained in effect. “What we have found so far is that one inmate from the East and one from the West couldn’t settle their own differences and it escalated,” Ortiz said. One inmate was stabbed in the abdomen and suffered a broken skull in the fight and another suffered a broken jaw.