20 Injured in Brawl at Castaic Jail

Twenty inmates at the Peter J. Pitchess Honor Rancho were injured Sunday in a brawl that erupted in the hospital ward of the Castaic jail after black prisoners tried to extort money from Latino prisoners, Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies said.

Ninety-six inmates--some of them using crutches as weapons--joined in the fighting, which began about 4:15 a.m. and lasted five minutes before deputies were able to restore order, Deputy Benita Hinojos said.

Three of those injured--including one who was critically hurt--were treated for head wounds at Henry Mayo Newhall Memorial Hospital in Valencia, and another was hospitalized after complaining of chest pain. The other inmates were treated at the jail.

Hinojos said the fight broke out along racial lines after Latino prisoners refused to give money to black inmates, Hinojos said. Hours earlier, seven inmates were injured in another brawl between blacks and Latinos. Hinojos said she did not know if the two incidents were related.