Racial fights becoming problem at county jail

David Kihara

Saturday, Feb. 18, 2006 | 12:33 p.m.

The largest jail in the county has faced numerous fights between black and Hispanic inmates and has been forced to lock down the facility because of racial conflicts inside the jail in recent months, officials said.

The disputes within the Clark County Detention Center have a similar root cause as those in Los Angeles, where thousands of inmates throughout the county jails remain in lockdown after deadly clashes broke out, largely between black and Hispanic inmates.

The racial tensions in Clark County jail are on a smaller scale than in Los Angeles, but they have caused an average of at least one lockdown a month over the last several months, said Mikel Holt, deputy chief of the Detention Center.

"We've been dealing with this for a year now," Holt said.

Citing security concerns, Holt would not say how many lockdowns there have been at the jail, which can hold more than 3,300 inmates.

National experts pointed to numerous reasons for the explosive violence in Los Angeles, such as overcrowding in the jails and gang conflicts between Hispanic and black street gangs that doesn't stop once the authorities place gang members behind bars, according to news reports.

Holt said some of those issues are also seen in Clark County, especially the gang conflicts. For example, while Hispanic gangs such as Mara Salvatrucha 13 or the Surenos may be enemies on the streets, they will often join together inside the jails for security reasons.

"Gangs may hate each other on the street, but once they're incarcerated they usually come together," he said. Once together, they are able to better defend or attack non-Hispanic gangs.

The conflicts at the Detention Center are mostly between black and Hispanic inmates. The fights often start over seemingly petty incidents: A black inmate may sit at a table of Hispanics, or a Hispanic inmate may not acknowledge a black inmate who asks a question.

"It's usually a respect issue," Holt said. No serious injuries have been reported out of the fights.

Black inmates continue to make up the bulk of the minority detainees, with an estimated 34 percent, or 1,130 inmates. Hispanics are next at 19 percent, or about 630 detainees.

In one incident a few months ago, a fight broke out between black and Hispanic inmates in the recreation area. The fight escalated when the inmates began throwing chairs at each other before the jailers broke up the fight, he said.

Another time, jail officials received information that a Hispanic "shot caller," or leader, ordered "some kind of action" against black inmates - not a particular inmate but all black inmates, Holt said. The implication of this was that the Hispanic inmates should go out to the recreation yard and fight Bloods or Crips.

The information was intercepted, and the actions stopped, but it pointed to the tensions within the prison, he said.

The smaller city jails in the county did not report any similar racial tensions. The North Las Vegas jail has been plagued with multiple lockdowns in recent months and one hunger strike, but Tim Bedwell, spokesman for North Las Vegas Police, said the incidents were not racially motivated.

"There's underlying racial tension in the jail, but no major incidents," Bedwell said.

The previous lockdowns were caused when jailers discovered threats against staff.There are approximately 800 prisoners at the North Las Vegas jail and at least half are federally housed inmates.

A majority of the 775 inmates at the North Las Vegas jail, 313, are Hispanic. Black inmates are next with 260 and whites make up 176.

David Kihara can be reached at 259-2330 or at davidk@lasvegassun.com.