'San Quentin Six' member killed during prison riot

Hugo Pinell.
(Image credit: Twitter.com/CBSSacramento)

A riot broke out Wednesday afternoon at California's Folsom State Prison, resulting in the death of one well-known inmate, prison officials said.

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Five inmates at the maximum-security prison have been hospitalized for stab wounds, NBC Bay Area reports. No guards or prison employees were injured during the riot. Authorities say that the prisoners began to fight in the general population yards, and some had weapons that they likely made themselves. Guards used pepper spray and other "less-than-lethal force options" in an attempt to subdue the inmates, and two warning shots were fired.

Authorities identified the 71-year-old prisoner who was killed as Hugo Pinell. Pinell was convicted of rape with force in 1965 and sentenced to life-with-parole. In 1971, he killed a corrections officer at the Correctional Training Facility in Soledad, California, and was part of the "San Quentin Six" escape attempt at San Quentin State Prison. He was convicted of assaulting two guards during the escape attempt, and sentenced to life-with-parole in 1976. California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation spokeswoman Dana Simas said the riot involved members of several different prison gangs, and Pinell was "definitely the target."

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Catherine Garcia

Catherine Garcia is night editor for TheWeek.com. Her writing and reporting has appeared in Entertainment Weekly and EW.com, The New York Times, The Book of Jezebel, and other publications. A Southern California native, Catherine is a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.