BACA SEARCHES FOR SOLUTIONS TO RACIAL RIOTS.

Byline: Bhavna Mistry and Patricia Farrell Aidem Staff Writers

CASTAIC - Sheriff Lee Baca led an unprecedented town hall-style meeting Monday - picking the minds of religious and civil rights leaders for solutions to the racial brawling in the county's jails.

Los Angeles County sheriff's officials, ministers, African-American and Latino leaders and representatives from the county Human Relations Commission were among the 60 people who gathered at the Peter Pitchess Detention Center in Castaic in search of a solution to a problem made delicate by the racial divide behind bars.

``I think this is a historic first, asking our leaders in the community to marriage up with the leaders in law enforcement,'' Baca said.

Participants urged solutions ranging from segregating the races to broadening education programs to keep inmates occupied.

To accomplish the latter, Baca said the new Correction Services Program, which focuses on literacy and addiction recovery, would continue. He said the department is working with community colleges and adult schools to bring more classes and other education programs to the jail. Such programs, he said, give inmates opportunities to use when they leave.

``They are given avenues instead of just serving time,'' he said. ``When they get out they are a little stronger on their feet.''

The sheriff's visit to the Castaic jail complex followed a spate of rioting last month that pitted Latinos against African-American inmates. Sheriff's officials believe the fighting has been orchestrated by a large network of Latino prison gangs that target African-Americans.

African-American leaders say sheriff's deputies working as jail guards didn't do enough to prevent the violence, a charge the department denies.

The clashes left two inmates hospitalized with serious wounds and dozens in need of treatment for minor injuries.

``I feel I must be held accountable as to what goes on in these jails,'' Baca said in explaining his decision to meet at Pitchess. ``Undoubtedly, these have gone on a long time, but there is no lag in finding a solution.''

A civil rights group has filed a federal lawsuit on behalf of 273 African-American inmates.

The suit alleges that deputies knew well in advance of last month's fighting that trouble was brewing but didn't do enough to prevent the outbreak of violence.

Baca planned to review the sequence of events that led up to the violence.

Attorney Leon Jenkins, who filed the suit on behalf of the African-American inmates, said earlier this month that sheriff's deputies took inmates' shoes before last month's violence so that nobody could stomp anyone to death. But he said deputies failed to take the inmates' razor blades.

``They did little or nothing to stop the riots,'' he said at a news conference earlier this month outside federal court. He added that the razor blades were ``transformed into weapons.''

Sheriff's officials said they learned of riot plans only minutes before the brawls began.

Jenkins said race riots typically occur when the number of African-Americans in a dorm falls below 15 percent of the population. He said the department should make sure African-Americans make up at least 40 percent of a dorm population.

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Photo: Lee Baca

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