A black inmate died Sunday afternoon after a racially motivated fight at Los Angeles County's Men's Central Jail. He is the second inmate to die in nine days of unrelenting riots between blacks and Latinos in the county jail system.
The 38-year-old inmate, whose name was not released, took part in a brawl that pitted him and another black inmate against the four Latinos in his cellblock at the downtown jail, said Sheriff's Deputy Alba Yates.
The death is being investigated as a homicide, she said.
The recent spate of violence began Feb. 4 with a melee involving more than 2,000 inmates at the North County Correctional Facility, part of the Pitchess Detention Center in Castaic.
Wayne Tiznor, 45, a rapist in jail on a parole violation for failing to register as a sex offender, was slain in that riot, and dozens of others were injured.
The unrest has continued despite emergency lockdowns at all county jails and the hastily ordered racial segregation of inmates in some wards. Because of the charged nature of any decision to segregate by race, the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department has not separated black and Latino inmates throughout the system.
Violence continued Sunday at Pitchess Detention Center, the site of most of the fights among inmates. More than 90 inmates fought in the jail's North Facility about 3:30 p.m., said Sheriff's Deputy Luis Castro. Four inmates suffered minor injuries. Two were taken to a local hospital and the other two were treated at the scene.
As they did in previous incidents, sheriff's deputies broke up the scuffles using tear gas and pellet weapons known as sting balls. No deputies were injured.
If ruled a homicide, Sunday's death at the Men's Central Jail would mark the eighth inmate slain in the outmoded facility in the last 2 1/2 years.
In that incident, what began as a fight between two of the men "escalated when the inmates separated along racial lines and began to fight," Yates said.
After the fight was broken up by sheriff's deputies, the two black inmates complained of pain and were escorted to the jail medical clinic. One fell unconscious in the hallway and could not be resuscitated. He was pronounced dead about 1:50 p.m., Yates said.
The other black inmate was treated for minor injuries.
The county coroner's office said the inmate's relatives had not been notified. Sheriff's officials declined to say why he was in jail.
