12 Pitchess Jail Inmates Injured in Brawl

CASTAIC — A dozen inmates were injured in a racially motivated brawl early Friday at the Pitchess jail, 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 spokesman for the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.

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

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

One inmate suffered head cuts during the fight and another was burned by a stingball, according to authorities. The men were treated at Henry Mayo Newhall Memorial Hospital in Valencia and returned to the jail. Another 10 inmates suffered 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 stingball grenade, Unland said.

It was not known what caused either of the fights, authorities said. No deputies were injured.

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