Hugo Pinell, 71, Comrade of George Jackson, Killed in Prison
5 Hospitalized in Disturbance Near Sacramento
One inmate was killed and others injured during a riot Wednesday at California State Prison-Sacramento, adjacent to Folsom State Prison. (California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation)
By PAIGE ST. JOHN
Hugo Pinell, infamous for his role in the 1970s "San Quentin Six" prison break attempt, was killed Wednesday during a riot at a maximum-security prison outside Folsom, state corrections officials said.
Pinell was among more than half a dozen people injured when an estimated 70 inmates began to fight in a prison yard shortly before 1 p.m., according to agency spokeswoman Terry Thornton.
Corrections officers responded with pepper spray and warning shots from rifles, a written report from the agency stated.
After the riot, five inmates were taken to area hospitals with stab wounds and others were being treated at the prison.
Pinell, 71, had been in state prison since 1965 on a life-with-parole sentence for a rape in San Francisco County. He was given another life sentence for killing a prison officer in 1971.
He was part of an Aug. 21, 1971, attempted breakout from San Quentin State Prison, in which six people were killed: three officers and three inmates, including George Jackson, founder of the Black Guerilla Family.
The prison gang has played a controversial role as a radical faction for civil rights. Activists in prison to this day continue to mark what they call a "prison rebellion" as Black August, often with fasting.
Pinell received a third life sentence for attacking two officers, slitting their throats, in that escape attempt, and had spent the majority of his time since then in solitary confinement and had participated in a 2013 statewide hunger strike protesting those conditions. Thornton said he was transferred from the isolation unit at Pelican Bay State Prison to California State Prison-Sacramento, where the riot took place, in January 2014.
CSP-Sacramento is located adjacent to the historic Folsom State Prison and is built to house inmates in high security, including solitary confinement. It houses about 2,300 prisoners.
Member of infamous 'San Quentin 6' killed by fellow inmate
August 13, 2015
Associated Press
SACRAMENTO, Calif. – 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.
The slaying of Hugo Pinell, 71, triggered a riot Wednesday that grew to involve about 70 inmates at a maximum security prison east of Sacramento, said California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation spokeswoman Dana Simas.
"He was definitely the target," Simas said. She would not give more information about the alleged attacker for his own protection.
Once Pinell was attacked in a California State Prison, Sacramento, exercise yard by his fellow inmate, "everyone else joined in," Simas said, including members of multiple prison gangs.
Eleven other inmates were taken to an outside hospital to be treated for stab wounds, while other injured inmates were treated at the prison. No employees were harmed. Guards fired three shots and used pepper spray to break up the brawl.
Officials initially said about 100 inmates were involved and five hospitalized.
Forty-four years ago, Pinell helped slit the throats of San Quentin prison guards during an escape attempt that led to the deaths of three guards, two inmate trustees and escape ringleader George Jackson, who was fatally shot as he ran toward an outside prison wall, according to Associated Press stories.
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.
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.
Correctional Officer Urbano Rubiaco Jr. survived to later testify that Pinell used a knife made of razor blades embedded in a toothbrush handle to slash Rubiaco's neck.
"He said 'I love you pigs' and then he cut my throat," Rubiaco said. He was one of two guards taken hostage by 25 inmates who were released from their cells during the escape attempt.
Correctional Sgt. Frank McCray testified that he and other guards were blindfolded, bound and piled into a cell, where McCray said his throat also was cut while other guards were shot and strangled.
A jury eventually acquitted Jackson's lawyer, Stephen Bingham, a grandson of former Connecticut Gov. Hiram Bingham, of smuggling in the gun.
Pinell and five other inmates became known as the San Quentin Six. Only one, 61-year-old William "Willie" Tate, remains in prison, at the Correctional Training Facility in Soledad.
The others were freed years ago: Fleeta Drumgo and Luis Talamantez in 1976, Johnny Larry Spain in 1991 and David Johnson in 1993.
Pinell was initially sent to prison in 1965 to serve a life sentence for a San Francisco rape. He was given a second life sentence for killing Correctional Officer R.J. McCarthey in 1971 at the Soledad prison.
He was given a third life sentence, all with the possibility of parole, for the San Quentin escape attempt after he was convicted of assaulting two correctional officers.
Prisoners remained locked in their cells as officers investigated Wednesday's disturbance.
The prison commonly called New Folsom houses more than 2,300 maximum-security inmates in Folsom, a suburb about 25 miles east of the state capital.
One inmate was killed and others injured during a riot Wednesday at California State Prison-Sacramento, adjacent to Folsom State Prison. (California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation)
By PAIGE ST. JOHN
Hugo Pinell, infamous for his role in the 1970s "San Quentin Six" prison break attempt, was killed Wednesday during a riot at a maximum-security prison outside Folsom, state corrections officials said.
Pinell was among more than half a dozen people injured when an estimated 70 inmates began to fight in a prison yard shortly before 1 p.m., according to agency spokeswoman Terry Thornton.
Corrections officers responded with pepper spray and warning shots from rifles, a written report from the agency stated.
After the riot, five inmates were taken to area hospitals with stab wounds and others were being treated at the prison.
Pinell, 71, had been in state prison since 1965 on a life-with-parole sentence for a rape in San Francisco County. He was given another life sentence for killing a prison officer in 1971.
He was part of an Aug. 21, 1971, attempted breakout from San Quentin State Prison, in which six people were killed: three officers and three inmates, including George Jackson, founder of the Black Guerilla Family.
The prison gang has played a controversial role as a radical faction for civil rights. Activists in prison to this day continue to mark what they call a "prison rebellion" as Black August, often with fasting.
Pinell received a third life sentence for attacking two officers, slitting their throats, in that escape attempt, and had spent the majority of his time since then in solitary confinement and had participated in a 2013 statewide hunger strike protesting those conditions. Thornton said he was transferred from the isolation unit at Pelican Bay State Prison to California State Prison-Sacramento, where the riot took place, in January 2014.
CSP-Sacramento is located adjacent to the historic Folsom State Prison and is built to house inmates in high security, including solitary confinement. It houses about 2,300 prisoners.
Member of infamous 'San Quentin 6' killed by fellow inmate
August 13, 2015
Associated Press
SACRAMENTO, Calif. – 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.
The slaying of Hugo Pinell, 71, triggered a riot Wednesday that grew to involve about 70 inmates at a maximum security prison east of Sacramento, said California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation spokeswoman Dana Simas.
"He was definitely the target," Simas said. She would not give more information about the alleged attacker for his own protection.
Once Pinell was attacked in a California State Prison, Sacramento, exercise yard by his fellow inmate, "everyone else joined in," Simas said, including members of multiple prison gangs.
Eleven other inmates were taken to an outside hospital to be treated for stab wounds, while other injured inmates were treated at the prison. No employees were harmed. Guards fired three shots and used pepper spray to break up the brawl.
Officials initially said about 100 inmates were involved and five hospitalized.
Forty-four years ago, Pinell helped slit the throats of San Quentin prison guards during an escape attempt that led to the deaths of three guards, two inmate trustees and escape ringleader George Jackson, who was fatally shot as he ran toward an outside prison wall, according to Associated Press stories.
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.
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.
Correctional Officer Urbano Rubiaco Jr. survived to later testify that Pinell used a knife made of razor blades embedded in a toothbrush handle to slash Rubiaco's neck.
"He said 'I love you pigs' and then he cut my throat," Rubiaco said. He was one of two guards taken hostage by 25 inmates who were released from their cells during the escape attempt.
Correctional Sgt. Frank McCray testified that he and other guards were blindfolded, bound and piled into a cell, where McCray said his throat also was cut while other guards were shot and strangled.
A jury eventually acquitted Jackson's lawyer, Stephen Bingham, a grandson of former Connecticut Gov. Hiram Bingham, of smuggling in the gun.
Pinell and five other inmates became known as the San Quentin Six. Only one, 61-year-old William "Willie" Tate, remains in prison, at the Correctional Training Facility in Soledad.
The others were freed years ago: Fleeta Drumgo and Luis Talamantez in 1976, Johnny Larry Spain in 1991 and David Johnson in 1993.
Pinell was initially sent to prison in 1965 to serve a life sentence for a San Francisco rape. He was given a second life sentence for killing Correctional Officer R.J. McCarthey in 1971 at the Soledad prison.
He was given a third life sentence, all with the possibility of parole, for the San Quentin escape attempt after he was convicted of assaulting two correctional officers.
Prisoners remained locked in their cells as officers investigated Wednesday's disturbance.
The prison commonly called New Folsom houses more than 2,300 maximum-security inmates in Folsom, a suburb about 25 miles east of the state capital.
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