Officers quell prison fistfight

“Staff utilized some chemical agents and fired some rubber bullets,” he said. “Verbal commands didn’t work and they stepped up to the gas.”

He said the rubber bullets fired by officers have a similar impact to being hit with a baseball.

Asked if prison gangs were involved, Thomas said, “it’s too preliminary to reach a conclusion on that.” He said the cause of the incident is not known yet.

Thomas said the prison was not placed on lockdown, but the A yard facilities were put on a “modified program.”

That means prisoners can go to medical appointments, work assignments and educational programs, but free yard time is restricted.

Thomas said all 23 inmates involved were removed from the general population and place into administrative segregation, until the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation determines what to do with them.

“This will be an ongoing investigation,” he said.

The last riot at Pelican Bay occurred last Dec. 26 in the B Yard and involved 20 black and white inmates. The uprising was stymied with warning shots from a Mini-14 rifle, tear gas and rubber bullets. Fifteen days earlier, a 23-inmate riot also involving blacks and whites occurred in the B Yard.

A 40-inmate riot last June ended with one prisoner being shot in the shoulder.