Spread of Jail Violence Feared

As the Los Angeles County jail system was hit by another day of racially charged disturbances Friday, some local officials expressed concern that the violence will spread into neighborhoods when inmates are released.

Sheriff Lee Baca said Friday that his deputies are prepared for continued violence but are also working on ideas for quelling the disturbances that have now reached their seventh day.

The sheriff said he plans to talk to religious leaders, including Cardinal Roger M. Mahony, about coming to the jail to counsel inmates.

“The goal is to start a dialogue with the Latino inmates in such a fashion that they’re appealing to their common good as human beings,” he said. “There is no magic answer here. There’s no magic wand. Every angle of solution has to be discussed and decided upon.”

There is no evidence so far that the racial violence has spilled out of the jails.

But Supervisor Yvonne Brathwaite Burke said authorities need to focus on what happens when some of the rioting inmates now in jail move back into their communities.

“This is a heavily black and brown, minority-majority city and county,” she said. “If this violence escalates to a greater level, it will be just horrible. It has the potential to bring the whole community down.”

She said that residents in her district, whether black or Latino, have little problem living side-by-side. It’s the gangs and drug dealers, she said, that have created the tension.

Police have said the feuds in the jail system have their roots in gang beefs developed on the streets of Los Angeles between Latino and black gangs. Investigators said they traced the first riots, in which one man died last Saturday, to Mexican Mafia prison gang leaders, who they said “greenlighted” Latino jail inmates to attack blacks.

Burke said some of her constituents have urged her to request that the National Guard come in and secure the jails. But the supervisor doesn’t think aid from the state or federal level is necessary. Burke also said she opposes pulling deputies off street patrols to help out in the jails.

“No question there is a need for additional custody deputies,” Burke said. “But I wouldn’t want to pull deputies off the streets.”

Supervisor Gloria Molina said she also fears continued violence in jails might inflame tensions between black and Latino gangs.

“We’ve had those [racial] tensions out there now,” Molina said. “It’s gang on gang. Black gangs and Latino gangs. It will absolutely spill out. I hope that’s not the case. It will be very dangerous for L.A.”

Meanwhile, officials continued their efforts at separating out the most dangerous inmates and possible ringleaders of the riots.

Most of the rioting has occurred at the sprawling Pitchess Detention Center in Castaic.

The violence has left nearly 100 inmates injured.

Jail officials have said that Latino inmates far outnumber black inmates, and that has emboldened some Latino gang members to act.

“Their goal is intimidation. Their goal is to carry into our jails a message that the Latinos are in greater numbers than the African Americans and you can’t stop us from attacking you,” Baca said Friday. “This comes from two South-Central gangs that are at war out in the streets -- and also the Mexican Mafia taking advantage of Latinos who are going to state prison, who in turn are trying to earn their credits so that they can prove to the leadership in the state prison that they are worthy soldiers.”

The latest violence occurred early Friday when 73 inmates got into a fight that took an hour to end.

Baca expressed hope that inmates are getting tired of the fights.

“Ninety-plus percent of the Latino inmates don’t want to be involved in these fights,” he said.

Concerns about the jail violence have spread to other counties.

Two fights broke out Friday morning between black and Latino inmates in San Bernardino County.

“In light of what’s happening in Los Angeles County, all of our jail personnel have a heightened awareness of possible racial tension, and we are watching for those issues as we monitor the inmates’ interaction,” sheriff’s spokeswoman Cindy Beavers said.

Riverside County jails have been placed on lockdown this week as a result of rioting among some Los Angeles County jail inmates, a Riverside County Sheriff’s Department official said Friday.

“Because of the racial issues in Los Angeles, we chose to jump out on the front end of it to make sure we don’t have issues,” Undersheriff Neil Lingle said.

Times staff writer Lance Pugmire contributed to this report.