Card Game Dispute Sparks Brawl at Jail; 7 Inmates Hurt

An argument over a card game set off a brawl Monday at a jail in Castaic that left seven inmates injured, one seriously, Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies said.

The fight between a black and a Latino prisoner at the Peter J. Pitchess Honor Rancho quickly escalated “into an altercation involving 50 inmates” divided along racial lines, Deputy Hal Grant said.

The disturbance started in the maximum-security section about 4 p.m.

When 10 to 15 deputies arrived five minutes later to restore order, the inmates stopped fighting, Deputy Irma Becerra said.

Those involved in the brawl were later transferred to other parts of the jail.

Four of the injured inmates were treated at San Fernando Hospital for bruises and lacerations, Grant said. One suffered a concussion and remained hospitalized.

The fight was the sixth such outbreak in as many months.

Authorities blamed the string of disturbances at the 8,300-prisoner facility on a power struggle between black and Latino inmates as the population of Latinos in the jail increases.

Crowding, summer heat and a new smoking ban were also cited as factors contributing to past disturbances.