Every month there are hundreds of officers attacked by inmates in the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR). Inmate-on-Staff attacks happen so often, it would be a difficult task to report on every incident. The Toughest Beat attempts to provide reports where officers are seriously injured, someone dies, or, in this case, the incident is unusual.
On December 3, at Mule Creek State Prison, at about 0800 hours there were several inmates in a housing unit breaking a chair apart. These inmates were in the dayroom taking breaking off parts of the chair and using cloth pieces to fashion several improvised weapons.
The officer posted in the control booth noticed the inmates making a weapons stockpile and gave loud orders for the inmates to drop the weapons and “get down.” The inmates refused to drop their weapons and assumed fighting stances facing the housing unit officers. Even as several other officers responded to the dayroom, the inmates refused to drop their newly fashioned weapons and maintained an aggressive, fighting stance.
Eventually responding officers deployed chemical agents to stop the standoff and were able to restrain the inmates. The inmates were identified as Joshua Nitkin (AM4084) and Andrew Aranda (BJ2911). No staff were injured.
Latest numbers of staff attacks in CDCR:
- October 2025 there were 387 documented inmate attacks on staff.
- September 2025 there were 418 documented inmate attacks on staff.
- August 2025 there were 469 documented inmate attacks on staff.
The inmate-on-staff attacks have dramatically increased following the implementation of the California Model of prison management. CDCR and the State of California downplay and outright refuse to report on the safety/security issues plaguing the department.
Sounds to me like these inmates want to join level 4 inmates!