14 Inmates Hurt in Castaic Jail Brawl
Fourteen inmates were injured in a racial brawl at a Castaic jail Sunday that was put down by sheriff’s deputies using exploding devices that sprayed rubber pellets, authorities said.
The brawl started about 10 a.m. in the maximum-security East Facility of the Peter J. Pitchess Honor Rancho, Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Deputy Hal Grant said. About 40 black and Latino inmates used glass shards and homemade knives as weapons, but none of the 14 injured men was seriously hurt, he said.
Authorities said they do not know how the fight started.
About two dozen deputies clad in riot gear quelled the violence by firing three “sting balls,” grenade-like devices that make loud noises and spray rubber pellets when dropped, Grant said. None of the injured inmates were wounded by the devices, which Grant said have been effective in “breaking up past fights and getting attention.”
Two of the injured inmates were treated at the jail’s clinic. The other 12 were taken to area hospitals and were expected to return to the jail late Sunday, Grant said.
The inmates involved in the fight would most likely be reassigned to other dormitories, he said.
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