Brawl Erupts Among 109 Inmates

A fight involving 109 inmates broke out at a medium-security jail early Tuesday and seven were injured before sheriff’s deputies restored order, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said.

The melee began just before 1 a.m. in a dormitory at the North Facility of the Pitchess Detention Center and was divided along racial lines between African American and Latino inmates, said Deputy Jim Hellmold. Officials do not know what caused the confrontation, but it was the latest in the series of such fights that have plagued the jail in recent years.

Hellmold said the inmates used their fists, feet and crude weapons fashioned from hard objects placed in clothing to beat each other.

It took a team of 19 deputies six minutes to quell the disturbance, using two “stingball” grenades that blast out rubber pellets, Hellmold said. No deputies were injured.

Five inmates were treated at the jail clinic for minor injuries. One inmate was seen at Henry Mayo Newhall Memorial Hospital after aggravating a previous back injury. Another received a cut above his eye and was taken to the jail ward at County-USC Medical Center.

Hellmold said the fight, the first at the jail this year, started about three hours after the inmates were locked into the dorm for the night and the lights turned out.