Breaking the Cycle

Harold “The Prince” Pleasant’s troubles started when he was 13 years old. That’s when he stole a car and served time at a county camp. By 15, he had a drug habit and committed a burglary for money. Then there was the time he sold drugs to an undercover cop and the two occasions he was arrested for assaulting police officers.

Pleasant was among 25 inmates who graduated Thursday from Amer-I-can, a pilot program for inmates at the East Facility of Pitchess Detention Center in Castaic. The program is designed to quell tensions at north Los Angeles County jails. Last month, there were six brawls between black and Latino inmates at Pitchess Detention Center, in which 35 prisoners were injured, officials said.

The Amer-I-can program is a 60-hour training program created by National Football League Hall of Famer and community activist Jim Brown.

Thursday’s graduating class was the second group to complete the program at the jail, and 75 other handpicked Latino, black and white inmates have signed up for future sessions.

“This is about taking responsibility for their own actions,” said Brown, who attended the ceremony, held in a windowless cafeteria with stainless steel tables. Brown said the program stresses peer support, anger management and conflict resolution, especially along ethnic lines.

“When Latinos and African Americans can get together to bring about something positive, that’s what Amer-I-can is all about,” said Brown.

Since 1991 there have been more than 150 race-related fights at Pitchess, which houses 8,000 inmates. Sheriff’s deputies are prohibited from racially segregating prisoners--even though inmates have long imposed their own brand of separation, officials said. Blacks, Latinos and whites each have “shot-callers,” who voice complaints and concerns to jail officials and lead their respective groups inside the jails. The three groups also divide up phones, territory and amenities such as television time.

In an attempt to decrease the potential for violence, Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca has introduced several measures, including the transfer of murder suspects and younger prisoners to Men’s Central and Century Regional jails. Unlike Pitchess, where prisoners are housed in large dormitories with as many as 120 bunks, those jails have two- to four-man cells.

Baca has also appointed two experienced deputies to act as inmate liaisons at the East Facility. Wendell Smith is the senior deputy, with 17 years in the department, whereas most deputies assigned to county jails have less than four years on the job. A barrel-chested family man with a broad smile and an easy manner, Smith says his job has attracted jeers from his younger peers and the trust of his charges.

“I don’t have anything to prove, and I don’t have to run with the boys [the other deputies],” said Smith.

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Smith was critical of some of his colleagues at Pitchess, saying their whole objective was to “treat inmates bad.”

“Give them respect,” Smith said, “and they’ll give you respect.”

So far, Baca’s efforts appear to have succeeded at the East Facility. Since April, there have been no riots.

Pitchess’ North County Correctional Facility and North Facility have not fared as well. Last Friday, 190 inmates in two separate North Facility dormitories rioted for eight minutes after an argument about the volume of the television, officials said.

Deputies stopped the fight by throwing grenades that shoot plastic pellets and firing balls of pepper spray and tear gas, officials said.

On Aug. 17, 63 inmates at the North County Correctional Facility fought--blacks against Latinos--because an African American inmate crossed racial lines.

“A black inmate was hanging with the Southsiders [a Latino gang]. He was friends with them on the outside and he refused to go along with the other black inmates,” said Cmdr. Steven Day, of the Pitchess Detention Center. “It’s a really ugly thing that happens in our system. Best friends might grow up right next to each other, but in here they have to separate. It’s really a shame.”

Day hopes the Amer-I-can program can ease those tensions, not only in the East Facility but in other parts of the detention center. The 25 Amer-I-can inmates are housed in a dormitory away from the general population. They attend class six hours a day for two weeks, during which they talk about their families, their struggles with anger, drugs and alcohol and discuss possible solutions.

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Amer-I-can Project Director Tarik Ross said the inmates are encouraged to contact officials with the program after their release.

“Their main challenge when they get out is going to be staying focused on their goals and not getting involved in drugs or crime,” Ross said.

Finding employment can be difficult, said Rick Bell, who is serving a 160-day sentence for driving under the influence of alcohol. Like Pleasant, he has spent much of his life behind bars.

“I’m tired of the way I’m living,” he said, explaining why he got involved with Amer-I-can.

Most of all, he said, he is tired of being jobless.

“I was living in Palmdale and I applied to a lot of places--like 20,” said Bell, who says he has never made more than minimum wage. “Nary a one called me back.”