A large-scale riot occurred at the Correctional Training Facility (CTF) in Soledad, California, August 14, and according to Lt. Carlos Espinoza of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) in a press release, eight inmates sustained injuries that required transportation to outside hospitals for treatment. All inmates have been listed in stable condition.

According to Shadowproof, who reported on the incident, CDCR held prisoners under lockdown conditions for twelve days after the altercation, and on August 26, officials moved 50 prisoners into administrative segregation, which is more commonly referred to as solitary confinement. Sources have said to Shadowproof that some inmates were still recovering from injuries at the time of their isolation.

Shadowproof interviewed the wife of a prisoner, who, after the fight, was sent to solitary confinement. In order to keep anonymity, she was referred to as Alice.

“My husband has been down since he was 16,” Alice said. “My husband is a lifer. He possibly has a chance to parole next year because of SB 260. He’s worked hard. He made it all the way down to a Level 2 because he knew he had a chance to come home. And they’re taking that from us.”

Alice, as well as other prison rights activists, argue that the fight was completely predictable, and in order to avoid accountability, the prison is punishing and scapegoating the prisoners, harming their chances for parole.

"To keep putting them out in the yard to kill each other, essentially, is irresponsible of CDCR because they all took an oath to keep them safe and they aren’t doing a thing to do that. It’s heartbreaking,” Alice added. “We don’t know what’s going on. Nobody is keeping us informed. Nobody is telling us anything. There’s nothing.”

Alice and others have blamed the violence on a prison gang called the Bulldogs. According to Brooke Terpstra, who organizes in support of prisoners and their families with the Oakland chapter of the Incarcerated Workers Organizing Committee, the fight fits with the previous actions of the Bulldogs.

“They can exert power by sabotaging whatever stability or agreements have been reached in the yard. In this way, they hold a ‘trump card.' This syndrome is very familiar across all systems, in all periods,” Terpstra said to Shadowproof. “It is a product of the state successfully enforcing scarcity in all aspects of life by sowing division.”

According to the CDCR, approximately 50 more inmates are being treated by medical staff at CTF for minor injuries. Four inmate-manufactured weapons were recovered, so a deadly force review board will conduct a full review of the incident in the next few weeks.

Soledad-California

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