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SAN QUENTIN – At least 50 inmates broke into a race riot at San Quentin State Prison that saw nine men injured, two by makeshift knives fashioned from bed springs. 

A San Quentin official said the prison remained in lockdown Friday evening pending the results of an investigation. 

The riot broke out around 6:20 p.m. Thursday, when a group of about 10 black inmates attacked a small group of white inmates, prison spokesman Vernell Crittendon said. 

About two dozen guards controlled the situation with the help of pepper spray. In disarming the inmates, guards found four weapons made from straightened-out bedsprings, each about six inches long. 

Prison officials believe the attack stemmed from an earlier incident when the white inmates taunted the black inmates with racial epithets. 

The melee quickly grew to about 50 inmates, Crittendon said. Combatants have been segregated from other prisoners while San Quentin officials investigate the incident, he said. 

Two of the inmates suffered stab wounds — a white prisoner had a puncture wound in his back, and a black prisoner had one behind his knee. The rest had cuts and scrapes, Crittendon said. 

All nine were treated at the prison. 

The riot took place in the Badger Section of the prison, where new prisoners are screened before being placed into the prison or shipped to other prisons.