143 INMATES HURT IN SAUGUS JAIL BRAWL.

Byline: Laurence Darmiento Daily News Staff Writer

Nearly 150 inmates were injured - two dozen seriously - Wednesday in one of the largest disturbances ever at Los Angeles County's Peter J. Pitchess Detention Center.

Approximately 1,800 Latino and African-American inmates battled each other with broomsticks, jail-made knives and other improvised weapons in several brawls at the jail complex in Saugus, said Deputy Angie Prewett.

Eleven inmates were taken to area hospitals, including one with massive head injuries. Four inmates taken to nearby Henry Mayo Newhall Memorial Hospital were in fair to serious condition and being readied for possible surgery, said Janice Newbold, a hospital spokeswoman.

The fighting first engulfed 12 of 13 dorms at the maximum-security East Facility starting about 2 p.m. It took more than 100 guards shooting rubber-pellet grenades an hour to quell the melee that left 125 inmates hurt.

Then, in what Prewett said appeared to be an orchestrated chain of fighting, battles broke out beginning at 3:35 p.m. in three dorms of the North Facility, also maximum-security. Those were halted immediately by deputies, but 13 were injured.

Five more casualties were taken to nearby hospitals when another round of violence swept through the North Facility at 4:55 p.m., Prewett said. Nobody was hurt in a 6:30 p.m. disturbance at the East Facility, she added.

Overall, 143 inmates were injured, ranging from the one critical case to scores of minor injuries. Two dozen suffered what were considered serious injuries. Most were treated at clinics at the sprawling, 2,700-acre jail complex about 35 miles north of Los Angeles.

Several deputies suffered minor injuries, Prewett said. No one was hospitalized.

Deputies were at a loss Wednesday evening to explain the cause of the disturbance at the jail complex, which has been the site of hundreds of brawls between Latino and African-American inmates over the last several years.

"It's obviously been orchestrated, but we don't know the reason why," Prewett said.

The deputy noted that the series of three fights in North Facility dormitories started like clockwork five minutes apart. She said it was unclear whether the Latinos or African-American inmates were the aggressors.

Two years ago, nearly 1,000 Latino and African-American inmates rioted at the North County Correctional Facility, the newest and highest-level security facility at the jail complex. Eighty were injured.

Investigators later said they believed that the fight may have been ordered as a show of strength by the Mexican Mafia - a prison gang purported to control much of the trade in drugs and contraband in state prisons.

At the time, jail administrators said that the 1994 riot was the largest they knew of at the Pitchess complex. Wednesday's series of fights involved nearly twice as many inmates, Prewett noted.

Numerous urinals, light fixtures and beds were destroyed in the riot at the East Facility, while damage at the North Facility was limited to overhead lights. Deputies were unable to assess the costs of the damage.

"They break apart the beds, they break apart the light fixtures in their dorms, they break the urinals - they rip those puppies right off the wall. I don't know how," Prewett said.

The entire jail complex, which holds about 8,000 inmates and includes a fourth medium-security jail, was under lockdown Wednesday night as deputies investigated the disturbances.

In a lockdown, inmates lose their phone and television privileges. They are served meals in their dorms or modules, where they must remain until the security measure is called off, Prewett said.