Another Racial Melee Erupts at Pitchess Jail

About 50 inmates clashed Tuesday at the Pitchess jail as deputies began re-integrating them, ending segregation imposed following a massive brawl Sunday between 600 African American and Latino inmates, authorities said.

No one was injured in Tuesday’s fighting in a maximum-security dorm about 4 p.m., said Sgt. Rich Erickson of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. Deputies used grenades filled with rubber pellets and fired rubber bullets to quell the fight within about 10 minutes, Erickson said.

The brawl did not halt the department’s plan to move African American and Latino inmates back into common living quarters, Erickson said.

In another incident, about 20 black and Latino inmates fought briefly in a holding cell at a courthouse in Pomona. Deputies brought that skirmish under control within a few minutes, he said.

The fights are a continuation of a huge melee that erupted Sunday at the Pitchess jail and continued throughout the night between 600 black and Latino inmates, leading to a one-day cooling-off period in which inmates were separated by race.

Eighty people were injured in Sunday’s fights, which spread to 20 dorms at the sprawling Peter J. Pitchess Honor Rancho facility in the Santa Clarita Valley. Inmates fought with homemade knives, wooden broom and mop handles and buckets, authorities said.

About 24 inmates were taken to local hospitals or the hospital ward at the Men’s Central Jail in downtown Los Angeles. The injured inmates suffered cuts, head injuries and broken bones, authorities said.