New cameras installed to monitor blind spots in the Santa Clara County Main Jail captured an incident in which more than 30 inmates attacked another in what appears to be a racially-motivated attack.
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“One inmate brushed up against another and then the fight was on”, Smith said after reviewing some of the surveillance video. Approximately 20 deputies responded to the fight, according to a Santa Clara County Jail spokesman.
Hours after the Thursday jail fight, Cordell voiced concern over the fight, a day after Smith announced the camera purchases and had some of them installed in the pod where the fight broke out.
The fight was eventually broken up by authorities using pepper spray. Jail medical staff were treating injured inmates, but there was no word on exactly how many people were injured. At least one inmate suffered injuries that will require stitches, officials said.
CBS San Francisco got the first look at the new security cameras Wednesday as they were installed in a maximum security pod.
The fact that the brawl was caught on camera was by complete chance.
The fist fight began between two inmates and prompted several more inmates to jump in. Smith says she bought them herself, after she learned that the county’s plan for a $20 million system is going to take two years.
Smith added that there were no indication of weapons that were used in he brawl. “I’m nervous, concerned, extremely concerned for his well-being along with everybody else in there”, said the sister of an inmate Kelli Gipson.
Both Smith and the head of the Santa Clara County Correctional Peace Officers Association said the video of the fracas highlight the everyday hazards jail deputies and officers face securing the embattled jail. “We don’t have cameras in any of the other housing areas”.
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The jail has been under intense security since the death of Michael Tyree, a mentally ill inmate who was found dead in his cell in August. Three correctional deputies are accused of his murder.
