Man Killed In Folsom Prison Riot Was 'San Quentin Six' Member

An inmate killed during a prison riot in Folsom on Wednesday has been identified as Hugo Pinell, a man who was involved in a deadly escape attempt from San Quentin State Prison over 40 years ago.

Pinell, 71, was a part of the “San Quentin Six,” a group of six men who attempted to escape from the Bay Area prison on Aug. 21, 1971, leaving six people dead, including two correctional officers and four inmates, according to California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation officials.

Pinell was convicted of violently assaulting the two officers during the escape attempt and sentenced to life-with-parole in 1976, CDCR officials said.

Pinell was first committed to the state prison system in 1965 from San Francisco to serve a life-with-parole sentence for rape with force, CDCR officials said. Pinell was also sentenced to serve life-with-parole in 1972 for killing a correctional officer on March 3, 1971, at a state prison in Soledad.

On Wednesday at 12:55 p.m., approximately 70 inmates at California State Prison, Sacramento, began fighting in one of the facility’s maximum-security general population yards, according to CDCR officials. Numerous inmates were injured and 11 inmates with stab wounds were taken to an outside hospital, CDCR officials said. Pinell’s death was the only death that occurred during the riot and is being considered a homicide, CRDR officials said.

No prison staff were injured during the riot, according to CDCR officials.

The maximum-security prison houses approximately 2,300 general population inmates.

--Bay City News/File image Wikimedia