5 Hurt in Racial Brawl at Castaic Jail Ranch

A brawl between 40 black and Latino inmates at the Peter Pitchess Honor Rancho in Castaic left five men slightly injured, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said Saturday.

The fight broke out at 6:20 p.m. Friday at the jail’s north facility, where about 1,000 medium-security prisoners are housed, Lt. William Dunn said.

A dispute among inmates over a work assignment sparked the disturbance, Dunn said.

One of the inmates apparently “was not pleased with one of his colleague’s performance,” Dunn said. “One thing led to another and they all got caught up in it.”

The fight quickly divided along racial lines. It was broken up within five minutes by deputies, Dunn said.

Of the five injured inmates, three were treated for minor bruises at the facility’s clinic and then released, Deputy Pat Hunter said.

An inmate who was hit in the head was taken to the Central Jail clinic for X-rays. The fifth inmate was treated for a cut over his eye at San Fernando Community Hospital, Hunter said.

The melee was the third time in the past two months that black and Latino prisoners have clashed at the 8,300-inmate county-run facility in a canyon east of the Magic Mountain amusement park. On June 19, about 130 inmates in the maximum-security dormitory were involved in a fight in which one inmate was stabbed and four others were injured. About 29 inmates were hurt in a June 3 fight involving about 40 prisoners.