RIOT CONTROL GEAR TESTED ARE THE JAIL'S PEACEMAKERS.

Byline: Holly Edwards Staff Writer

CASTAIC - Taking aim at a scarecrowlike figure clad in a jail uniform, Deputy Alan Shapiro pulls the pin on a grenade-style sting ball, throws it, then covers his ears as the device explodes in a cloud of smoke and spray of rubber bullets.

The ear-splitting device is just one of the tools in the arsenal at the Pitchess Detention Center near Castaic, where about 20 deputies recently gathered to fine-tune their riot control skills.

For many of these sheriff's deputies, the sting ball is the weapon of choice when a large group of inmates is fighting.

``It won't knock 'em down, but it'll scare the heck out of 'em,'' said Sgt. Dale Tullio, who is in charge of custody training for north Los Angeles County. ``It's extremely loud, so it kind of scares them into compliance.''

Another favorite among the deputies is the stinger, a shotgunlike weapon that sprays rubber bullets instead of buckshot.

``It can be fired at groups, but we aim below the knees so we don't knock anyone's eye out,'' said Deputy Daniel McDonald from the custody training division. ``It'll knock you off your feet, though. And then what are you going to do? Crawl around and riot?''

Pitchess deputies also recently acquired the latest in stun gun technology, a 50,000-volt, 26-amp version.

``I don't care how tough you are. If we get you with this, you instantly lose control of your muscles and collapse,'' McDonald said. ``It's the most immediate way we have to neutralize an inmate.''

Volunteering to experience the effects of the new stun gun, Deputy Eddie Molano grimaces and instantly falls into the arms of two waiting deputies.

``It's like somebody punched me real hard or I have a bad charley horse,'' Molano said, recovering from the shock. ``I wouldn't want any more than a second of that.''

To further demonstrate the stun gun's power, all of the deputies join hands in a line, and the training officers shoot the officer on each end. All of the deputies scream and jump in pain.

The day ends as the deputies are asked to walk into a room filled with chemical gas to learn just how quickly the inmates will be overcome when sprayed with mace or shot with gas-filled pepper balls.

The deputies leave the training course coughing and wiping their eyes.

While the deputies seemed to enjoy learning about the specialized gadgets and weapons, they said it is no laughing matter when they are confronted with a large group of out-of-control inmates.

``There's nothing fun about a riot. In fact, they're pretty scary,'' Tullio said.

During the height of a three-day riot last April, Shapiro said, 15 of 16 dorms - or about 900 men - were in ``full riot'' at one of the Pitchess facilities.

``My job at that point is to try to keep the inmates at bay with these kinds of weapons until our emergency response teams arrive,'' said Shapiro, who estimated he's dealt with 10 riots at Pitchess in the past four years.

In addition to the April riot, Pitchess had 25 major disturbances and 26 minor disturbances last year, said Cmdr. Steve Day, who oversees the prison complex.

To deal with the violence, deputies launched 51 sting balls, fired the stinger gun eight times, fired a rubber-bullet gun 10 times, used chemical gas to clear a room 10 times, and used mace 112 times, Day said.

Day added that most of the violence is spawned by a relatively small number of African-American and Latino inmates who are jockeying for power.

``Whoever runs the jail runs the sale of drugs in the jail,'' he said.

Since the April riots, Day said he has transferred most of the inmates under 30, typically the most violent, to Men's Central Jail in downtown Los Angeles.

He added that all Asian-American inmates are housed downtown in a separate facility and are the only inmates segregated by race. Violence between Latino and Asian gangs in the South Bay area has led to virtual warfare between the two groups in prisons, he said.

Day said the most effective ways to reduce violence in prisons is to make sure they are not overcrowded and to provide a variety of programs for the inmates.

``If they have ways to keep their minds and bodies active, tension goes down,'' he said.

CAPTION(S):

5 photos

Photo: (1 -- color) A deputy assigned to the Pitchess Detention Center aims at a target dummy with a gun that fires pepper powder pellets.

(2 -- color) Jail duty deputies train with a variety of nonlethal crowd- control weapons, including rubber bullet guns and grenades.

(3 -- ran in AV edition only) A scarecrowlike target dummy stands in for unruly inmates during riot-control training at the Pitchess Detention Center.

(4 -- color in SAC edition only) A deputy holds a ``sting ball'' device employed to disperse rioting crowds using loud noise and rubber projectiles.

(5 -- ran in SAC edition only) Custody assistant Eddie Molano goes down instantly after being hit with the same type of taser gun officers use to subdue a subject.

David R. Crane/Staff Photographer