"Riot" begins inside a prison. It's soon very obvious that the warden is a jerk--the sort of guy who inflames the prisoners and makes small problems huge. Soon, a prisoner dies and the inmates assume one of the guards killed him. After all, he was a brutal guy and loved mistreating them. So it isn't surprising that a riot breaks out and the prisoners take many of the guards prisoner--including the guy they think is responsible for the death. Unfortunately, Sam and Quincy are in the middle of this, as they were called in to examine the dead prisoner's body--and they are taken prisoner by the rioters. Fortunately, one of the rioters (Al White) is not such a hot-head and he is able to influence some of the prisoners to use caution and restraint. Without him, Sam and Quincy as well as the other prisoners would be goners. Quincy is able to get the men to give him time to finish the autopsy before they take their next step. However, there are two huge problems--Sam is forced to stay behind with the prisoners while Quince goes back to the lab and the warden seems to be doing everything he can to escalate the situation! Can Quincy figure out what happened as well as save his friend?
This is a very taut and well made episode--and among the best of season five. It's made better by Al White's guest appearance. He is a solid actor and has a real presence about him throughout the show. And, if you see him and can't quite place where you saw him before, think of the movie "Airplane!". He was one of the two black men who spoke through subtitles!