Lompoc Fire Department Battalion Chief Robert Kovach said five people injured in the riot Sunday were taken to hospitals. Four of the five were prison employees and a fifth was apparently an inmate, he said. Kovach said there may have been more injuries.
An emergency room nurse at Marian Medical Center in Santa Maria, about 30 miles north of Lompoc, said two guards were in stable condition there.
Emergency room workers at Lompoc Hospital declined comment.
The cause of the riot was unclear. Prison spokesman Joe Henderson did not return repeated telephone calls and messages.
A 1995 riot at the maximum security facility began in the cafeteria and almost led to a takeover of the prison. The U.S. Bureau of Prison's Special Operations Response Team had to restore order, entering through the roof and quelling the disturbance by using flashbang devices, tear gas and canine units.
The U.S. Attorney's Office said the rioting at the prison was one of many disturbances at federal lockups in 1995 related to a congressional decision to assess stiff sentences for crack cocaine convictions.
