Bloody aftermath of prison riot

See Photos: Chino Valley Now blog
CHINO - Among the traces of mayhem from the weekend's violent prison riot, the blood on rags and mattresses at the California Institution for Men spoke volumes Tuesday.

The acrid stench of burned wood and scorched building materials still hung in the air at the prison on Tuesday when reporters were able to tour Reception Center West, where the racially divided riot on Saturday night injured 175 prisoners.

Six of the center's eight long wooden dorm buildings, that each house about 200 inmates and encircle a sprawling recreation yard, are uninhabitable after extensive damage caused by the melee.

"They literally tore the buildings apart," said Terry Thornton, spokeswoman for the California Department of Correction and Rehabilitation.

The entire reception center, which houses about 1,300 incoming prisoners for an evaluation period of about 45 days, is empty, officials said.

Hundreds of items of prisoner belongings lay strewn throughout the dorm area, a scene reminiscent of tornado damage footage from the Midwest. A mattress lying among tossed belongings had words written in large letters: "CIM RCW (Reception Center West) 8-8-09 History!"

Swastikas were scrawled across one burned-out dorm, street gang graffiti tags lined the wall of another, and gaping holes could be seen in the roof and walls of the burned unit. Shoes and orange jumpsuits, even prisoner information cards with photos on them, lay everywhere.

Corrections officers Tuesday made a line side-by-side to comb through the recreation yard in search of additional weapons. Many makeshift weapons could be seen surrounding the damaged dorms.

The weapons were pieces broken from bed frames, glass, and anything potentially harmful that inmates could get their hands on, said Lt. Mark Hargrove, CIM spokesman. Local fire officials who responded to the incident said there were numerous stabbings, and multiple lacerations and bruised inmates.

Officials said about 10 inmates still were being treated at local hospitals for serious injuries.

The inmates at Reception Center West were housed in units that according to law are not racially segregated, though each double-bunk inside the dorms was assigned to two inmates by race. The dorms had been on lockdown since Thursday after prison officials got wind of possible impending violence at the prison.

The riot began at around 8:20 p.m. - a time when some inmates where being fed and the majority were locked away inside their dorms. Rioters who began fighting in their dorms eventually forced their way out of the locked buildings, prompting dorm guards to flee for safety and to regroup, said Hargrove.

The riot was quelled after four hours when corrections officers used tear gas and pepper spray to put down the uprising, Hargrove said. The reception center was finally secured at around 7 a.m. on Sunday. A Department of Corrections investigation into the causes of the riot is ongoing.

"Hopefully the (ringleaders) will be prosecuted and get additional time and be housed in a more appropriate security level," he said.

Thornton said about 1,155 inmates from Reception Center West were sent to other prisons including 735 sent to a separate housing unit at the nearby Heman G. Stark Youth Correctional Facility.

Critics of CIM infrastructure, including Chino Valley city officials, have said they were not surprised by the riot considering the deteriorating and overcrowded conditions at CIM. Thornton said overcrowding did not lead to the riot, though she said it did hamper efforts to quell the incident.

"There were about 1,300 inmates in (RCW), and it's a lot easier to deal with half that amount," Thornton said. "Overcrowding didn't cause the incident but it's no secret that overcrowded inmates impacts every single thing we do."

The sides of the 1940s-era dorms are made of block and the roofs are made of wood. There is no sprinkler system inside the buildings. CIM holds 5,900 men but was designed for 3,160.