CHINO, Calif.—Counties around the state were trying to determine how a weekend prison riot that damaged seven housing units and displaced more than 1,100 prisoners might impact local lockups in the weeks ahead.Sheriffs from California’s 58 counties were invited to participate in a conference call Thursday to discuss the effects of the riot at the California Institution for Men in Chino, Scott Kernan, undersecretary of adult operations for the state prison system, told The Associated Press.
Kernan said it was too early to tell if local jails would feel the impact from the lost beds at the prison’s Reception Center West but warned a backlog could occur.
“The entire system, it’s huge,” Kernan said. “I have some steps that I can take to try to mitigate losing those beds … but it’s not going to be perfect and that’s why we’re trying to talk to those sheriffs.”
Saturday’s racially motivated riot shut down an inmate reception center that takes in inmates from four Southern California counties. The fighting injured 175 inmates, some seriously.
Prison officials have said it will cost as much as $6 million to repair the housing units.
Some sheriffs are already reporting glitches.
Orange County Assistant Sheriff Mike James said a busload of inmates couldn’t be sent to Chino on Thursday. That didn’t pose an immediate problem for the county system, which has about 464 inmates waiting to be transferred to state facilities, he said.
Things could change, however, if Chino remains a problem a week from now, he said.
Other counties also reported prisoner backlogs in their local jails but said that wasn’t unusual.
In San Bernardino County, there were about 600 state prisoners in the county jail, including 100 parole violators and 500 who have been sentenced but not yet moved, said Cindy Beavers, a sheriff’s spokeswoman.
Kernan said Los Angeles County has a backlog of about 2,000 state prisoners in the local jails.
“The riot just occurred last weekend,” Kernan said. “We didn’t make 2,000 inmates in four days. There’s always been a backlog.”
The situation could change as county jails reach capacity.
“The jail systems are so overcrowded and the sheriffs are dealing with such an untenable situation themselves … that any hiccup seems to be much larger than it is,” Kernan said.
About 700 of the inmates from Chino are temporarily housed at the Heman G. Stark Youth Correctional Facility in Chino.
Others were transferred to Calipatria State Prison, the Correctional Training Facility in Monterey County and the California Rehabilitation Center in Riverside County.
