11th Brawl Breaks Out at Honor Rancho : Jail: Unlike previous melees, the latest incident was not race-related, officials say. Thirteen inmates are injured.

Thirteen inmates suffered minor injuries Friday when a melee broke out in a dormitory at the Peter J. Pitchess Honor Rancho, the 11th brawl involving prisoners since June.

Unlike the other fights, county officials said Friday’s incident at the county-run jail facility in Castaic did not appear to be race-related, although the participants were black and Latino.

“It was not racially motivated. It was two inmates arguing over use of the telephone,” said Deputy Rich Erickson. “They just happened to be black and Hispanic.”

However, more than 130 inmates have been injured since June in fights between black and Latino prisoners, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. The other brawls, including two in the past week, were all race-related, deputies said.

The latest disturbance occurred at 11:30 a.m. in a maximum-security dormitory in the eastern section of the facility, Sgt. Larry Lincoln said.

It was not clear how many of the 97 inmates who reside there participated in the brawl, which was broken up by deputies after about five minutes. The dormitory houses 42 blacks and 55 Latinos and Anglos.

In the past, fights usually began when minor quarrels over card games or use of telephones escalated into melees involving most of the dormitory’s inmates. The disputes took on racial overtones as inmates chose sides along racial lines, county jail officials said.

Jail officials have said in the past that much of the racial tension has occurred since 1988 when Latinos supplanted blacks as the dominant group in county jails. This has led to power struggles between the two groups for internal control of the facility.

Earlier this week, Assistant Sheriff Richard Foreman said the department planned to ask state prison authorities and the Los Angeles County Human Relations Commission for advice on quelling repeated brawls and reducing racial tension at the facility. Experts have given different advice on methods to stem jail violence.

Rapid turnover in the inmate population makes identification and isolation of chronic troublemakers difficult, sheriff’s officials said. After fights, many inmates are often transferred to other dormitories within the 2,800-acre jail, which houses 8,000 inmates.

Inmates are also reluctant to discuss incidents with deputies because they do not want to be labeled as informers, officials said.

Although television monitors tape activity in dormitories, it is often unclear how the fights begin and which people are actually fighting and which are just crowding around the action, Lincoln said.

“It’s kind of hard to figure out who is involved and who isn’t because people gather around and watch,” Lincoln said. “Everyone wants to see what’s going on and then they might get into it.”