FBI WIDENS ITS PROBE OF VIOLENCE AT PRISONS

The FBI is broadening its investigation into violence in California's
prisons to include two more high-security facilities,including one where
guards allegedly urged inmates to attack each other.

Thursday's announcement came a day after eight correctional officers at
Corcoran State Prison, near Fresno, pleaded innocent in federal court of
staging gladiator-type fights between inmates of rival gangs.

The FBI said it is also looking into a melee last month at High Desert
prison that left one inmate dead and allegations that guards at Pelican Bay
prison encouraged fights between inmates.

The three high-security prisons house some of the state's most violent
prisoners. Inmates involved in violence at other prisons are sent to
Pelican Bay, in the far northwestern part of the state. High Desert, in the
far northeastern corner of the state, is one of California's newest prisons
and already one of the most violent.