California prison officials on Thursday said two inmates are suspected of stabbing to death Hugo Pinell, a prominent figure in 1970s prison violence who until last year had spent more time in solitary confinement – 43 years – than any other state inmate.
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Hugo Pinell’s attorney Keith Wattley says the 71-year-old inmate was killed Wednesday just days after being placed in the general prison population at California State Prison, Sacramento. Sign up for the free Essential California newsletter >>.
Following the riot, medical personnel took five inmates suffering from stab wounds to area hospital while others were treated at the prison.
Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation spokeswoman Terry Thornton said that because the investigation is ongoing she could not respond to the criticism of his transfer to the general prison population on July 29, nor say if officials feared for Pinell’s safety. No officers were injured, the department said.
On Thursday, Wattley called Pinell’s death foreseeable, as Pinell was a target of attacks for decades. California State Prison-Sacramento also houses inmates requiring specialized mental health treatment.
Guards testified that Jackson started the escape attempt when he pulled a smuggled 9-mm pistol from under his six-inch-high Afro hairdo and fatally shot two correctional officers.
CDCR said “inmate-made weapons” were used in the riot.
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) An inmate involved in a bloody 1971 San Quentin escape attempt that left six dead has been killed by a fellow prisoner, corrections officials said Wednesday. Built in 1986 and sometimes referred to locally as “New Folsom” prison, it sits next door to Folsom State Prison, which is better known because of the song “Folsom Prison Blues” by Johnny Cash, who performed a celebrated concert there in 1968. Now it houses approximately 2,300 prisoners.
Jackson was a Black Panther leader, founder of the Black Guerrilla Family prison gang, and author of the 1970 book “Soledad Brother”, written after he and other inmates were accused in the slaying of a Soledad prison guard in January 1970.
“They were never anything but a gang involved in violence both in and outside the correctional system”, said Jim Vuchsas, a retired Los Angeles Police Department gang unit chief and member of the statewide prison gang task force.
The prison gang played a highly controversial role as a radical group for civil rights.
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4 p.m.: This post was updated to include reaction to Pinell’s death.
