40 Inmates Hospitalized in CA Prison Riot

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From CNN:

Forty prison inmates were sent to hospitals, four of them airlifted, after a riot erupted at the California Institution for Men in Chino, a spokesman said.

The melee broke out at about 8:30 p.m. Saturday at the Reception Center West facility, said Lt. Mark Hargrove, prison spokesman.

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The situation was under control as of Sunday morning, he said, and inmates who had not been admitted to hospitals were being returned to the prison.

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The scene of the violence was a medium-security housing facility with seven units, each unit housing about 200 inmates, he said. Some 80 officers responded to the riot, during which a housing unit was set on fire. As of Sunday morning, authorities did not know how the fire started.

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The inmates' injuries ranged from stab wounds and slashes to head trauma, Hargrove said. Some injuries were considered life-threatening. No prison staff members were injured.

Hargrove said the inmates used "weapons of opportunity" such as broken glass during the riot.

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Images taken from the scene showed flames coming from the building as a helicopter hovered overhead.

A similar riot broke out in December 2006, Hargrove said.