2 Inmates Stabbed During Jail Fracas

Two inmates were stabbed and four others suffered minor injuries Monday during a disturbance involving about 30 inmates at the Descanso honor camp in Alpine, a Sheriff’s Department spokesman said.

A fight between a black and a Latino inmate quickly escalated into a brawl when about 30 additional black and Latino inmates joined in using rocks, brooms and “shanks”--metal bedsprings and other objects sharpened into makeshift knives, Deputy Wayne Bradley said.

Deputies, including a canine unit located on prison grounds, responded immediately and quelled the disturbance “within two or three minutes,” Bradley said.

Two inmates were treated for minor puncture wounds by physicians at the jail, and four others were treated for bruises and abrasions suffered during the fight.

The camp was put on lockdown after the fracas, a security condition usually employed overnight, Bradley said.

Eleven inmates involved in the fight were being transferred to other facilities, he said. An investigation into the disturbance, which took place between two dormitories during free time, is being conducted.

A medium-security jail, Descanso houses about 397 inmates, Bradley said.