Riot breaks out at a prison in Soledad hours after inmate death
A riot broke out at the Correctional Training Facility in Soledad just hours after an inmate was killed at Salinas Valley State Prison.
According to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, 33-year-old inmate Armando Wehr was found unresponsive in his cell with multiple wounds.
The suspected homicide happened around 9 p.m. Monday in one of the prison’s maximum security yards.
No suspects have been identified at this time.
Wehr was serving a life sentence with the possibility of parole for second degree murder, plus 25 years for intentional discharge of a firearm.
Then, Tuesday morning, a violent inmate uprising at the medium security Correctional Training Facility – the second in three months in its 25-hundred person general population unit, Facility C. CTF is a different prison, but in the same area as Salinas Valley State Prison.
“We don’t have a particular nexus on that matter, if there is any connection, but we’ll be
looking into that,” said CTF spokesperson Lt. Roland Ramon.
Multiple ambulances were seen filing in and out of the prison, Tuesday. Ramon says at least ten inmates were transported to local hospitals for treatment and evaluation. He says the attack appears to be inmate on inmate. It happened during “morning feeding” in both the kitchen and housing units.
Officers reportedly used pepper spray to tamp down the riot. They didn’t say whether prison officers used physical force, but no correction staff was injured.
“We saw the ambulance, and we saw one of the cars from the facility, so we figure something had happened,” Soledad resident Shirley Holguin said. Holguin was relieved to hear no officers were injured. She tells KION her husband, son, and other family members work, or have worked, at the prison complex.
“My son was accosted once, so it’s very dangerous for the officers. I know that they saw ‘wow, they get paid big bucks,’ but they don’t know all the stress,” Holguin said.
Facility C inmates were put on a form of lockdown, Tuesday. The prison is still investigating if the riot was organized and if any weapons were involved.
