Gangs of Marin

We have a tendency to overlook San Quentin — did you know that on April 16, a 15-minute riot broke out among inmates in the dining hall, which 100 officers had to coat in pepper spray and pierce with rubber bullets? Hundreds of black and Hispanic prisoners ended up on multiday lockdown, and one officer went to the hospital. If you did hear the news, you likely heard it from Lieutenant Sam Robinson, liaison to the public, who typically has workaday prison goings-on to report, like the nice new tennis courts in the yard, but every so often he gets something juicy. Today, he holds forth on something bursting: prison gangs. Suffice it to say that San Quentin’s public information officer knows — and knows how to talk about — prison gangs.
Thu., May 7, 5:15 p.m., 2009