String of Fights at Jail Leaves 27 Inmates Hurt

A series of brawls Tuesday left 27 inmates with minor injuries at a county jail in Castaic, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said.

All 96 inmates in a dorm at the Peter J. Pitchess Honor Rancho were scheduled to be transferred to other parts of the sprawling jail complex to reduce tensions after the brawl, authorities said.

Six inmates were treated at San Fernando Community Hospital. The others were treated at the jail infirmary as a result of three fights that occurred in the same dormitory between 1 and 8 a.m., Deputy Louis Goldstein said.

The three fights followed an apparently unrelated dormitory brawl Monday in which six inmates received minor injuries.

The four fights bring the total number of race-related brawls to 22 since June at the county-run jail five miles north of Santa Clarita, authorities said. Although all this week’s fights involved black and Latino inmates, authorities were not certain the four latest incidents were racially motivated.