Folsom prison guards kill inmate in trying to end rec yard fight

FILE - In this Aug. 31, 2007 file photo, a guard tower stands behind the wire fence that surrounds California State Prison, Sacramento, in Folsom, Calif. Corrections officials say one inmate is dead and another seriously injured after officers fired weapons to break up a fight, Friday, Oct. 20, 2017.(AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli, File) less FILE - In this Aug. 31, 2007 file photo, a guard tower stands behind the wire fence that surrounds California State Prison, Sacramento, in Folsom, Calif. Corrections officials say one inmate is dead and another ... more Photo: Rich Pedroncelli, Associated Press Photo: Rich Pedroncelli, Associated Press Image 1 of / 3 Caption Close Folsom prison guards kill inmate in trying to end rec yard fight 1 / 3 Back to Gallery

Guards at a state prison near Sacramento on Friday killed one inmate and critically wounded another when they opened fire on four prisoners who were fighting in the prison’s recreation yard.

Jamie Mardis, 38, of Kern County, died at the prison’s medical center about 2:30 p.m. Friday — about 10 minutes after the fracas began, prison spokeswoman Krissi Khokhobashvili wrote in a statement. A second inmate, who was not immediately named due to an ongoing investigation, suffered a gunshot wound and was transferred to an outside hospital in critical condition.

The district attorney’s office of Sacramento County is investigating the incident, which began when two inmates with hand-fashioned “stabbing weapons” attacked a third man in the recreation yard, officials said.

Correctional officers tried to break up the fight using less-than-lethal force, first by firing 40-millimeter impact rounds, similar to rubber bullets, into the crowd, Khokhobashvili said. When that didn’t work, they launched pepper-spray grenades into the scrum and fired a warning shot with a Ruger Mini-14, a semi-automatic rifle widely used by law enforcement officers.

But the fight only got worse, prison officials said. A fourth man jumped into the fray.

That’s when officers opened fire. One of two shots from the rifle hit Mardis, who was pronounced dead shortly thereafter. A second shot hit the other man.

The other two inmates involved in the fight suffered minor injuries and were treated on-site at the Folsom prison.

Mardis was serving an 11-year sentence for second-degree robbery and an additional two-year term for making and possessing a deadly weapon behind bars, following a 2016 incident, according to state records. His family was notified of his death Friday.

Two handmade weapons were recovered from the scene, officials said. No prison staff members were hurt.

A special team of investigators that conducts criminal and administrative inquiries into officers’ use of force was deployed Friday to review the incident and determine whether the prison guards’ use of force was warranted. This team will conduct its own investigation, independent of that of the Sacramento County District Attorney’s Office.

Inmate movement and programming has been limited this weekend to accommodate investigators moving about the prison grounds.

California State Prison, Sacramento, is a maximum-security facility with about 2,100 inmates and about 1,700 employees. Long-term inmates as well as those with specialized mental health and medical needs are housed at the facility.

Marissa Lang is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: mlang@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @Marissa_Jae