Dozen Inmates Injured in Brawl at County Jail

A dozen inmates were injured in a racially motivated brawl early Friday at the Pitchess jail in Castaic, authorities said.

No one was hurt in a second unrelated brawl in another part of the jail two hours later, said Deputy Henry Garza, a sheriff’s spokesman.

The first fight between 130 African Americans and Latinos occurred about 6:30 a.m. in a dormitory at the jail’s east facility. Inmates used their feet, fists and jail-made knives, said Deputy Kim Unland, a department spokeswoman.

Using nonlethal “sting ball” grenades, deputies ended the fighting in about five minutes.

One inmate suffered head cuts during the fight and another was burned by a sting ball, according to authorities. They were treated at Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital and returned to the jail. The other 10 had minor injuries and were treated at the jail’s clinic.

The second fight involving about 50 inmates broke out about two hours later in another dormitory in the east facility, authorities said. The men fought for about a minute before deputies stopped them using another sting ball grenade, Unland said.

The cause of the fights was not known, authorities said. No deputies were injured.

The jail has been the scene of scores of such brawls, usually between blacks and Latinos, in recent years.