10 Seriously Hurt in Jail Brawl : Castaic: Fight at Peter J. Pitchess Honor Rancho reportedly occurred when African-Americans accused Latino inmates of stealing.

The continuing saga of inmate tension at the Peter J. Pitchess Honor Rancho in Castaic has resulted in yet another dormitory brawl, this one ending with numerous injuries to inmates and the hospitalization of 10 people, Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies reported Friday.

The fight broke out about 11 p.m. Thursday in a maximum security dorm in the jail’s North Facility, Deputy Gabe Ramirez said.

The fight, like nearly all of the dozens of brawls that have occurred at the jail in the last year, formed along racial lines after a group of African-American inmates accused Latino inmates of stealing money, Ramirez said.

Nearly all of the 94 inmates in the dorm took part in the melee, which quickly escalated, Ramirez said. The inmates used broom handles, jail-made knives called “shanks” and even telephones as weapons.

“The inmates ripped the receivers from the pay phones that were in the dorm and used them as weapons,” Ramirez said.

Deputies quelled the disturbance in seven minutes without physically entering the fracas by using a loudspeaker to order the inmates to their bunks.

Ramirez said the number and extent of the injuries seemed more serious than those suffered by inmates in previous battles.

Ramirez said the injuries included stab wounds, cuts and head injuries. One inmate suffered a broken arm. Ten inmates who were seriously injured were treated in the jail clinic and later taken to the jail ward of County-USC Medical Center.

The other injured inmates were treated in the jail clinic and sent back to their bunks in the dorm, Ramirez said.

Ramirez said deputies found six shanks in the dorm after searching it following the fight.