Santa Clarita / Antelope Valley : Inmates Hurt Resisting Cell, Body Searches : Corrections: Four were hospitalized for injuries in the process, which yielded a carved plastic knife, officials say.

Four inmates serving time at the state prison here were hospitalized with injuries they suffered after resisting body and cell searches, prison officials said Thursday.

So far only one of the four inmates who were hospitalized Wednesday has been discharged and returned to the California State Prison Los Angeles County. Prison officials identified the prisoners as Alvin Dennis, Paul Portillo, Nicolas Romero and Jimmy McKinney. McKinney was released from the hospital.

Prison spokesman Kenn I. Hicks said the inmates were injured during Wednesday’s search of the prison’s administrative segregation unit, where inmates facing an administrative action are held in one- and two-person cells.

The eight-hour search was conducted after officials received information that “there was a manufactured weapon in one of the cells,” Hicks said. The weapon turned out to be “some type of plastic sharpened into a point to be used as a stabbing weapon.”

“Inmates make manufactured weapons out of just about everything they can find,” he said.

Of the 159 inmates held in the 100-cell unit Wednesday, 49 resisted the search of their cells and bodies, Hicks said. A team of corrections officers had to physically remove the inmates from their cells in what the prison describes as “extractions.”

The four inmates suffered minor to moderate injuries when they resisted the extraction, Hicks said, added that it is believed that the officers acted properly.

“At this time we don’t have any indication there was excessive force,” he said. “Any time we have a cell extraction, an incident report is written up and reviewed.”

A weapons-possession charge will be filed against the inmate who had the plastic weapon, Hicks said. The 49 inmates who resisted the search will face disciplinary action for not complying with instructions.

Hicks said he is not aware that any other weapons were found during the search.