Inmates took over recreation yard to make demands prior to Solano jail lockdown

FAIRFIELD – Inmates took over a recreation yard at the Stanton Correctional Facility in Fairfield last month to make demands that another inmate who had smeared feces inside his cell be removed from their unit, one of two incidents of unrest that led to a lockdown of the facility that concluded late last week.

One of the inmates in the affected unit said in a series of letters to his family that were provided to the Vallejo Sun that others had organized the takeover of the yard as a protest to force the Solano County Sheriff’s Office, which operates the jail, to remove the inmate. He wrote that after the incident, the inmates in the unit were not allowed to shower for more than three days.

The incident was one of two recent incidents that the sheriff’s office cited for a 10-day jailwide lockdown imposed on Aug. 22. Sheriff’s officials said that on Aug. 19, 11 inmates refused to leave the recreation yard for more than nine hours until jail guards were able to gather enough guards and deputies to confront them. Two guards were brutally assaulted two days later in an unrelated incident, according to the sheriff’s office.

In a letter dated Aug. 21, the inmate wrote that others in the unit wanted an inmate removed because he “is loud all night long which causes people not to get any sleep, but not only that the same inmate poops and pees by the crack of his door so it exits his cell by him forcing it out.”

“He also wipes poop all over his windows and it leaves a foul smell in the mod and we don’t like inhaling that odor,” the inmate added.

He wrote that the inmates had submitted grievances to the sheriff’s office over the other inmate’s behavior but that they had been determined to be unfounded. “It was supposed to be a peaceful protest to try and get a point across that did not go as planned,” the inmate continued.

The next day, the inmate wrote a second letter, complaining that the unit had been on lockdown for over 72 hours without being provided with showers. He wrote that guards had taken everything from their cells except for a mattress, that he had to sleep in his clothes with no sheets or blankets and that he had been repeatedly strip searched.

Sheriff’s Capt. Bill Elbert said in an interview that inmates who refused to leave the recreation yard were locked down for two days. Elbert said that two days after that incident, on Aug. 22, two guards were ambushed and beaten, severely injuring one of them and a nurse as well.

Following that incident, the entire jail was locked down.

Elbert said that state law requires the jail to allow inmates to shower every three days, but because of the compounding lockdowns, inmates in that unit weren’t allowed to shower until the fourth day. "In this situation we just had to ensure the safety and security of the facility,” Elbert said. “Unfortunately we had to impede momentarily on some of their liberties.”

Elbert said that during the incident that led to the initial lockdown – when 11 inmates refused to leave the recreation yard and locked themselves in – the inmates had taunted the guards and threatened them with violence and was only resolved at about 3:30 a.m. after guards pulled personnel from other areas, including patrol deputies, into the jail to confront the inmates.

He said regardless of the intent of the inmates, the jail could not give in to their demands. “There's no jail or prison that could operate that way and provide the safety and security of all staff, volunteers and inmates,” he said. “We have an established grievance process, they went outside of that.”

The jailwide lockdown was lifted as of Thursday, two days earlier than anticipated. Elbert said. Jail guards searched the entire 365-bed maximum security jail and found four more weapons: three shanks and a garrote.

But while most things at the jail were back to normal, some people – such as those who were involved in the incident in the recreation yard – remained under sanctions and were still unable to receive visitors.