Prison Assaults Los Angeles County

Seven prisoners suffered minor injuries Wednesday in two different brawls at the Pitchess Jail, authorities said. No weapons were used in either of the two fights which took place in two dormitories at the North County Correctional Facility--one of a handful of such complexes at the county jail, said Sheriff's Deputy Kim Unland. The first brawl between about two dozen Latinos and Asians broke out at 3:40 p.m., she said, and lasted only a few minutes until guards ordered the men to stop.

Twenty-seven inmates were injured early Monday after a brawl broke out between about 70 black and Latino prisoners at the Pitchess Detention Center. What sparked the melee, which erupted just after midnight, is unknown, said Los Angeles County Sheriff's Deputy Kimberly Unland. Deputies using rubber bullets and a sting ball grenade filled with rubber pellets quelled the brawl in less than five minutes. Unland said 18 of the prisoners were treated for minor injuries at the jail's medical ward.

Twenty-seven inmates were injured early Monday after a brawl broke out between about 70 black and Latino prisoners at the Pitchess Detention Center in Castaic. The cause of the melee, which erupted just after midnight, is unknown, according to Los Angeles County sheriff's officials. Eighteen of the prisoners were treated for minor injuries at the jail's medical ward. Nine inmates who required more serious treatment were taken to the jail ward of Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center.

A melee between African American and Latino prisoners broke out Tuesday at Pitchess Detention Center, leaving one inmate with at least nine stab wounds and seven others with minor injuries, the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department reported. The stabbed inmate, identified only as a black male, was in satisfactory condition after being treated in the jail infirmary, said Deputy Kimberly Unland. The fight at the north facility of the jail began about 8:30 a.m. and involved about 50 inmates.

A dozen inmates were injured this weekend in fighting at the Pitchess Detention Center in Castaic, authorities said. The fighting, mainly between blacks and Latinos, erupted Saturday night and involved 63 inmates at the detention center's North County Correctional Facility, Deputy Kimberly Unland said. Sheriff's deputies used two sting ball grenades to quell the brawl, which lasted less than five minutes.

Without comment, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors has agreed to pay $600,000 to a traffic offender who was severely beaten by fellow county jail inmates after he refused to smuggle drugs and weapons into the Pitchess Honor Rancho in Castaic.

Punches were thrown, noses were broken and backs were stabbed during a series of violent racial melees at the Pitchess jail last week that were apparently orchestrated by Latino gangs, newly released inmates said Monday. "It was total chaos," said Thomas Williams, a 26-year-old Hawthorne resident who was released Friday. "It was all started" by Latino inmates who jumped African Americans on orders from a gang based in the state prison system, contended Williams, who is black.

A series of violent brawls last week among hundreds of inmates at the Pitchess jail has cast a spotlight on the vexing political, economic and racial problems plaguing the county's jail system, and authorities concede there are no solid solutions in sight.

A series of violent brawls last week among hundreds of inmates at the Pitchess jail has cast a spotlight on the vexing political, economic and racial problems plaguing the Los Angeles County's jail system, and authorities concede there are no solid solutions in sight.