More racial brawls at a Los Angeles County jail

Associated Press:

Another racially charged brawl broke out early Friday at a Los Angeles County jail following a pair of melees the previous day and a series of fights earlier in the week, officials said.

Seventy-three Latino and black inmates began fighting around 2 a.m. in a dorm in the North Facility of the Pitchess Detention Center near Castaic, about 40 miles northwest of downtown Los Angeles, said sheriff's Sgt. Don Manumaleuna.

It took deputies an hour to restore order using "clear out gas" and sting balls, he said. Two inmates suffered moderate injuries but no deputies were hurt, he said.

On Thursday, separate fights erupted at the Pitchess center around 1 p.m. and 8 p.m., officials said. Deputies quickly quelled both with gas and sting balls.

Sheriff Lee Baca said officials were studying videotape to identify the instigators of the brawls and move them into single cells. He said the fights, which began Saturday and left one inmate dead and nearly 100 injured, were started by Latino gang members as apparent revenge for street feuds.

"We are going to (review) extensive video monitoring of inmates to identify the instigators," Baca said. "Those who initiated this are going to be identified. They are going to be isolated. They are going to lose all their privileges, and they are going to be charged with additional crimes."

The first fight Thursday erupted after sheriff's officials, hoping to ease tension in the detention center, allowed 70 clergy members and about two dozen media members into a different section of the facility to talk with inmates.

All seven Los Angeles County jails were on lockdown for a third day Friday, Manumaleuna said.

There were five racially motivated fights Wednesday, the largest involving about 300 inmates in a dorm at the center's North Facility. Nineteen inmates were injured in the fighting Wednesday, one critically.

A section of the same detention center was the site of rioting Saturday between Hispanic and black inmates that killed one man and injured more than 100 others. That was followed by two jail melees Monday night.

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