Riot at Ely State Prison: It was a battle!

by Coyote Sheff

Prison guards in riot gear get ready for a cell extraction.There was a riot here at
Ely State Prison that took place in the most restricted unit, 4B and 4A. It lasted
from Jan. 31 to Feb. 1. It was a battle!

There has been a lot of changes here at ESP that all started on Nov. 23, 2009.
Rather than giving us anything to look forward to or any real incentive by
implementing any constructive or productive programs, the administration has
maliciously taken things away. Canteen privileges, appliances (radios, TVs, CD
players and the like) and visits have all been stripped away from us so they can
hold these things over our head and use them as a control method.

On Nov. 23, 2009, all of the prisoners who are serving “Disciplinary Segregation”
were moved and placed in Unit 4, A Wing and B Wing, and Unit 3B. They intentionally
made 4B the worst tier in this prison by strategically placing protective custody
inmates and mentally ill inmates all around us on this tier, while taking appliances
away, so that we have no choice but to be subjected to the everyday torture, sensory
deprivation and psychological warfare deliberately placed on us by these PCs and
mentally ill inmates, who constantly scream, bang, verbally assault other prisoners,
snitch and inform on us and several other tactics they do to make us miserable that
I cannot explain.

Not to mention the guards on this unit are the most strict, the most petty,
spiteful, vindictive and retaliatory guards in this prison. These guards have
intentionally gone out of their way to provoke us on several different occasions.
They have taken appliances, including mine, away from inmates who committed rule
violations prior to Nov. 23, 2009 – which is against policy – and prisoners who have
been found guilty of minor and general write-ups have had their appliances
confiscated, and even prisoners who were found not guilty of minor write-ups had
their appliances taken away!

To top that off, prisoners who have gone two months without their appliances still
have not had their appliances returned to them in spite of what the policy states,
and the staff are not answering kites (written messages) or making any efforts to
try to get the appliances returned to these prisoners.

Year after year it is take, take, take, and it has gotten to the point where we got
fed up with this. We have said enough is enough. We needed to get things off of our
chest!

Prisoners on 4B, including myself, kicked off a riot by flooding, burning, capturing
food slots, popping sprinkler heads, forcing the guards to gear up and extract us
from our cells so that we could fight with them! At least eight guards dressed in
full riot gear and helmets would line up and run in our cells, trying to beat us
into submission.

We fought hard and we took it to them. Many of us were successful at disarming them
of their electrical shield, making sure to get our hits in before they wrapped us up
and beat us down. One prisoner even got out of his cell and hit a guard so hard in
the helmet that the face guard broke off!

When it was all said and done, there were over 16 cell extractions on both wings,
totally three prisoners were sent to the infirmary, one of those prisoners was sent
to the hospital outside of the prison because of head trauma, but the other two were
returned back to their unit two days later. There was so much blood everywhere – in
the cells, on the tier, in the sally port, in the hallway and on the walls – it was
crazy! It was a battle!

Every guard that was on the extraction team received some type of injury. Each one
had to see the nurse about something. One guard, allegedly, got stabbed during a
cell extraction. He was laid out in the sally port being operated on by the nurses
for about 45 minutes before he was carried out on a stretcher. After that, the
guards’ spirits were deflated and they refused to run in on anybody’s cell. They
showed their fear and defeat by their use of chemical agents from here on out.

We battled hard! Whites and several Latino prisoners from different factions all
came together, successfully building an army in 20 minutes to fight together and
take a stand! Guys that normally would not even talk to each other came together to
take it to these swine.

Every one of us who got extracted received a black eye, bloody nose and many lumps
and bruises, but we are proud of these battle wounds! At least I’m proud of mine!
There were many foul and unprofessional acts done by the guards that directly
violate the policies of the institution, and an investigation is being pursued. We
are taking this as a victory.

The guards bowed down before we were ready to stop fighting. They extracted me from
my cell. I quickly disarmed them of their electrical shield and got a few licks in
before they wrapped me up. When they brought me back to my cell, Latinos, Whites and
Blacks were all chanting my name and cheering me on. It felt good.

This is not my first riot but it was definitely the best. It’s so good to see
solidarity in action, to see prisoners of different races and factions coming
together like this. We need more of this before we can really start making positive
changes in this system!

Resistance and sacrifice,

Coyote

ABC-Nevada Prison Chapter, Ely State Prison

For more information, or letters of encouragement and support please contact me at
this address: Coyote Sheff, 55671, P.O. Box 1989, Ely, NV 89301.