Inmate Dies in Fight at County Jail in Castaic

Sheriff’s deputies reported the first fight-related inmate death Wednesday at the North County Correctional Facility, marking the latest incident in what has become a series of racially motivated brawls plaguing county jail facilities in Castaic.

Four brawls at the Peter J. Pitchess Honor Rancho have been reported since the beginning of the year, including one that involved almost 100 inmates.

Thomas E. Lyster, 44, died after being struck in the head by another inmate in what deputies said may have been a racially motivated argument. It was the first fight-related death since the North County facility opened in 1989.

Lyster died of head injuries about 12:50 p.m. Tuesday at the jail, one of five facilities at the Pitchess compound, Los Angeles County Deputy Ron Weber said.

Darwin Lee, a 19-year-old black inmate, confronted Lyster--who is white--after Lyster shared his lunch with two black inmates in a dormitory, Weber said. Witnesses told deputies that Lee punched Lyster in the head, causing him to fall and hit his head on the floor. He went unconscious, Weber said.

The two black men were also beaten up by other inmates, but received only minor injuries, Weber said.

Lee allegedly dragged Lyster behind a bunk bed and left him there, Weber said. Other inmates alerted deputies, who notified jail doctors. Lyster was pronounced dead at the scene.

Lee of Pasadena was being held in the jail pending his trial in the Oct. 21 gang-related drive-by shooting death of Gary Tolberg, 24, in Altadena, Weber said.

Lyster was in the jail awaiting trial on burglary charges, deputies said.

Racially motivated brawls, most often between blacks and Latinos but sometimes involving white prisoners, are fairly common at the Pitchess site, which houses about 10,000 inmates, sheriff’s officials said.

Almost a year ago, 10 inmates were injured in a nearby facility after a white inmate objected to a black inmate getting a second helping of food at breakfast, officials said. On Jan. 17, nearly 100 Latino and black prisoners brawled in another jail.

The North County facility--the newest among the county’s 10 jails--has had few fights compared to the other four jails at the complex, however, because deputies there can easily watch all inmates’ activity, said Lt. Jim Stevenson. More than 2,800 inmates are held at the jail.

Weber said each dormitory in the North County facility houses between 40 and 50 inmates who are free to move around within their shared quarters.

Although deputies watch prisoners, fights are difficult to stop when they flare up, he said.

“Unless we saw signs that a fight was impending, there’s no way to keep this from happening,” Weber said. “These men might have been problems from before, and this was just a culmination of events.”

Sheriff’s detectives will ask the district attorney’s office to file murder charges against Lee.