SACRAMENTO — A state correctional officer at the men's prison in Chino was stabbed to death Monday, marking the first time in 20 years that a guard has been killed while on duty in one of California's adult prisons.
All 32 state prisons were immediately put on "lockdown" status, with inmates stripped of all privileges and confined to their cells for at least 24 hours as officials sought to determine if the attack was part of a broader, orchestrated action against staff.
Manuel A. Gonzalez, 43, was stabbed three times about 10:50 a.m. in the Sycamore Hall housing unit at the California Institution for Men, officials said. Gonzalez, who was married with five children ages 6 to 17, died en route to a hospital. He had worked for the Department of Corrections since 1988.
Three suspects were questioned, but officials identified the alleged assailant as Jon Christopher Blaylock, 35, a convict from Los Angeles County who in June began serving a 75-year sentence for attempted murder of a peace officer.
Blaylock had been incarcerated twice before, for attempted burglary convictions in 1990 and in 1993. He was last paroled in April 2002. Prison sources said he suffers from a mental disorder.
Inmates Keith White and Henry Riley, who also were convicted in Los Angeles County, were being questioned. The three suspects are being transferred to other prisons. The three allegedly are members of the East Coast Crips street gang, officials said. In recent years, investigators have focused on the gang as a source of assault plots against staff at prisons statewide.
Roderick Q. Hickman, secretary of the Youth and Adult Correctional Agency, traveled to the prison from Sacramento on Monday to meet with staff. In a statement, Hickman said, "There is no greater loss than to lose a brother officer killed in the line of duty.
"I know as professionals we will pull together to help Officer Gonzalez's children and parents deal with this loss, and all of us throughout this state will pull together to help heal the wound that has been inflicted on our agency and state," he said.
Leaders of the labor union that represents prison guards, the California Correctional Peace Officers Assn., called the killing devastating.
"We're stunned," said union Executive Vice President Lance Corcoran. "We don't have much information at this point, so we can't point fingers. The institution is just in turmoil."
