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-Lurid Crime Tales-
28 cows die after prison dairy escape
2007-08-16
TRACY - Officials at Tracy's Deuel Vocational Institution are trying to figure out how a herd of 59 cows escaped from the prison's dairy early Monday, causing 28 of the animals to be killed when they wandered into the paths of passing vehicles.

An Altamont Commuter Express train took out some of the cows, while a big-rig truck hit and killed others. "California cows are flattened cows"The number of dead includes some cows that had to be shot because they suffered major injuries, according to a California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation report.

"At least nobody got hurt," said Bill Sessa, a Sacramento spokesman for the Prison Industries Authority, a quasi-state agency that operates prison work programs, such as Deuel's dairy.
"You mean we're nobody?" the surviving cows protested.
"It was fortunate the cows did not get to (the) highway."
At least the cows were unarmed. If they'd been carrying guns, the carnage would have been horriffic.
Posted by:Mike

#7  BA,

Deuel Vocational Institution, also known as "DVI" or sometimes "Tracy", is a California state prison located in Tracy, San Joaquin County, California.

The facility was opened in 1953 and named for the late California state Senator Charles Deuel who sponsored legislation establishing the institution. The facility has been expanded and reorganized several times, in 1959, 1981 and 1993. Its current head warden is Claude Finn.

Today the primary purpose of DVI is to serve as a reception center for newly-committed prisoners to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation from northern California county jails. The facility also houses a small number of minimum- and low-security inmates (classified by CDCR as levels I and II) and provides some Prison Industries Authority (PIA) facilities at a dairy and a furniture fabrication plant. As of January 2006, the total count of prisoners at DVI was 3,748, with 3,162 of that number assigned to the reception center.

As a result of DVI's primary function as a reception center, in which a large number of felons of different propensities for violence, disciplinary and security issues pass through before being classified and transferred to other facilities, DVI has a long-standing reputation for being violent and dangerous. The facility use to be referred to as "gladiator school" by inmates and staff. This was due to the fact that DVI was widely known for the fights that took place within the prison walls.

DVI also has a 110-inmate farm. There they grow vegetables for the prison, raise cattle for slaughter, and raise dairy cows for milk supplied to the school systems in the area.

Posted by: Red Dawg   2007-08-16 22:31  

#6  Quoth the CDCR:
DVI's primary mission is as a reception center for Northern California counties, and houses inmates who come to DVI primarily from 19 Northern California county jails. Staff process these inmates by compiling and evaluating the inmates' criminal records, life histories, medical and physiological histories, and social histories. The information is used to determine the inmates' custody score and to identify any specific placement needs the inmate may have. Once the reception process is completed, the inmate is transferred to one of the 33 State prisons where they serve the remainder of their prison sentence.

DVI's secondary mission is to provide general population housing to inmates who are serving their prison sentence at DVI. General population inmates provide support to DVI by working in maintenance jobs, food service jobs, janitorial jobs, as well as other jobs that serve in supporting the operation of the prison. Prison Industries Authority (PIA) assignments are also available to general population inmates. PIA assignment include jobs at DVI's dairy and in the furniture fabrication plant.
Posted by: mojo   2007-08-16 17:22  

#5  Amazing that no people got hurt... can't see a modern car standing up to a cow impact...
Posted by: john frum   2007-08-16 15:43  

#4  As long as he doesn't milk the State coffers.
Posted by: BA   2007-08-16 15:39  

#3   while a big-rig truck hit and killed others.

The driver was ticketed for a moo-ing violation.
Posted by: mrp   2007-08-16 15:37  

#2  Sounds like there'll be good eatin there for awhile though...
Posted by: tu3031   2007-08-16 15:25  

#1  The mind boggles...only in Cali would a prison be called a "Deuel Vocational Institution".
Posted by: BA   2007-08-16 15:22  

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