Prison Fight Shows Need for Improved Jail Conditions
A violent brawl involving over 63 inmates took place at the Pitchess Detention Center - North County Correctional Facility in Los Angeles on Sunday.
It took deputies and facility custodians around ten minutes to break up the fight. They eventually had to resort to sting balls and "Clear Out" gas to restore order.
Although officials could not find any weapons during their post-investigation, one inmate was stabbed in the abdomen during the fight.
Twenty of the inmates sustained minor injuries and were treated by the jail's medical professionals.
Because California is undergoing the tenuous process of re-locating convicts from state prisons to local jails, officials are particularly wary of violent outbreaks in jails, such as the one that occured this weekend.
Sheriff Leroy D. Baca released a letter Sunday in response to a set of allegations of misconduct within the LA Sheriff's Department published by the American Civil Liberties Union.
In the letter, he reaffirms the department's core values and lists ways they are focusing on effecting positive change within Los Angeles jails.
"I believe that by ensuring a more productive and beneficial environment with improved coping skills in the jails, negative results will derease and a more positive view of life will increase," he writes.
One of the goals the Sheriff articulated is that of continuing to build partnerships with community educators, clergy, and volunteers to enhance services available to inmates.
Another goal is to hold occassional Community Town Hall meetings with jail inmates, so that they have the opportunity to voice their concerns and complaints.
The effort to improve jail conditions may be tied to an overall decrease in violent crime.
There has been a 12.5 percent decrease in violent crimes in areas patrolled by the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department in the first nine months of 2011 compared with the same period last year, according to the Sheriff.
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