Deadly riot breaks out at California prison

An inmate who had been imprisoned for a half-century was killed and nearly a dozen others injured Wednesday during a prison riot at a maximum-security state prison.

Corrections officials at California State Prison-Sacramento say about 70 prisoners began battling with homemade weapons around midday.

Eleven inmates were taken to hospitals with stab wounds and "numerous" others were injured during the incident at California State Prison-Sacramento just before 1 p.m. (8 p.m. UTC), the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation said in a statement.

The riot was broken up by officers using pepper spray and other non-lethal force, officials said, and no prison staff were injured.

Member of notorious 'San Quentin Six' murdered

Killed in the fracas was Hugo Pinell, a 71-year-old inmate serving a life-without-parole sentence for killing a prison guard in 1971. Later that year, Pinell and five others attempted to escape San Quentin State Prison in a deadly incident that left two guards and four inmates dead.

But more recently the Sacramento state prison has been the site of several violent outbreaks. An inmate was shot by a guard and 12 others were sent to the hospital with stab wounds and head trauma in a September 2012 melee involving 60 inmates.

One year earlier, nine inmates were taken to a hospital with stab and gunshot wounds as well as blunt force trauma after 50 inmates rioted.

Notorious prison immortalized in song

Built adjacent to the historic Folsom State Prison, made famous in a Johnny Cash country song, California State Prison-Sacramento is a modern annex that houses about 2,300 inmates, most serving long sentences.

jar/gsw (Reuters, AFP)