Prison violence is an inevitability, especially in California. So, it shouldn't surprise anyone Calipatria State Prison (CSP) in southern-California exploded into an inmate-against-guard melee on August 18. The riot, which spread to other areas of the prison, resulted in one inmate being fatally shot, and 25 from each side being injured.
This is a prime example of what ails the California Department of Correction and Rehabilitation (CDCR), the most violent and dysfunctional corrections department in the country. Punitive prison conditions -- i.e., overcrowding, lengthy sentences, and horrendous medical -- cause prisoners to lash out like animals out of pure frustration. As an inmate who has lived under these conditions for years, prison violence never surprises me anymore. Without anything to lose, people are capable of anything.
In the case of Calipatria, once the alleged perpetrators are taken to segregation or moved to other prisons, the thousands of CSP inmates who weren't even involved will ear the brunt of the guard's wrath. Once the prison is completely locked-down, then the guards will slowly and methodically mete out their revenge. Under the justifiable guise to search for weapons, they will destroy, confiscate, and throw away as much inmate personal property as possible in order to punish the population for what happened to their fellow officers.
Once this initial phase of retribution is complete, then the pangs of a lengthy lockdown begin to take its toll, and the mind truly becomes a terrible thing. When an institution is enveloped by extreme oppression -- both sides become entrenched in their "us against them" mentality.
Regardless of post-incident excuses by the CDCR, they've had a myriad of chances to address the hell-like conditions of Calipatria. But they consistently make things worse by failing to recognize the insanity of their disastrous human rights policies. Through a lack of professional aptitude, an already psychologically unstable population simply deviates even further.
It shouldn't be a mystery why inmates don't respond positively to ultra-harsh penalogical methodologies. The California prisoner has become a rudderless Titanic heading full-steam into a wall of icebergs -- coaxed along by the batons, bullets, and hazing of the guards. As a demographic, our self-destructive nature is catastrophic under the current correctional ideologies.
In the case of the Aug. 18 riot, the CDCR is as culpable as the riotous inmates for fostering an atmosphere reminiscent of Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo Bay … or even Attica.
- Buried Alive, A California prisoner, January 2006