60 Inmates Brawl at Jail Complex

About 60 inmates brawled Saturday morning at the Peter J. Pitchess Honor Rancho in Castaic, and deputies tossed rubber grenades to halt the fighting, a sheriff’s spokesman said.

“Basically they [inmates] used their hands and their feet,” said Sgt. Richard Dinsmoor. “They apparently fought for several minutes.”

The row broke out about 9:40 a.m. at the Rancho’s east facility, with combatants divided between Latinos and African Americans, Dinsmoor said.

Deputies used verbal commands as well as the grenades, which expel rubber pellets when they explode, to separate the factions.

About 20 inmates were treated for minor injuries at the facility, and four of those involved were transferred to Men’s Central Jail, Dinsmoor said.

The five-jail, 34-acre Pitchess complex became the scene of Los Angeles County’s largest jailbreak when 14 inmates escaped in April, covering their hands with socks and climbing over a razor-wire fence. The mass escape led to calls for improvements in security at the jail, including increasing the height of a fence surrounding the facility. That work is in progress.