Unrest blamed on fights, crowded cells, lack of staffing

MERCED, CA - Less than two weeks after a state report said Merced County's biggest jail is severely understaffed, rampant overcrowding and fights between rival gang members have forced officers to put the facility in lockdown mode.

News about the lockdown -- which started last weekend and could last for another couple of weeks -- was not made public until the Sheriff's Department was questioned about unusual activity at the John Latorraca Correctional Facility.

The jail is located 10 miles south of Merced on Sandy Mush Road.

Sheriff Mark Pazin said the lockdown was initiated after "substantial unrest" at the jail earlier this week.

Scott Dover, a spokesman for the Sheriff's Department, said members of two rival gangs were "involved in several altercations" in the jail yard where inmates are allowed to mingle.

He said there were a series of scuffles between a few individuals, but no large fights. Two inmates were hospitalized with moderate injuries and have since been sent back to the jail.

"Tension was rising between two gangs," Dover said. "It kept getting more and more aggressive."

The last time the jail went into lockdown mode was a year ago, Dover said.

The jail apparently had not thoroughly screened its inmates for gang affiliations, leaving some cells filled with members of rival gangs.

The problems were also exacerbated by extreme overcrowding and a lack of staffing at the jail.

At any given time, there are eight or nine correctional officers staffed at the Latorraca jail, Dover said. They oversee about 625 inmates.

The jail is designed to hold 608 inmates at maximum capacity.

When the nearly 500 male inmates are allowed to mingle in the jail yard -- though in separate shifts -- they are watched over by only three officers.

Asked if the jail had adequate staffing, Dover said: "No, no, no. It's a volatile situation. We don't have enough staffing to handle that number of inmates. The facility doesn't have enough space to handle that safely."

A state Department of Corrections report released earlier this month said the Latorraca jail is severely understaffed and that required fire and health inspections have not been completed.

It also found that many inmates were sleeping on mattresses on the floor.

Dover said overcrowding problems have forced the jail to let many of the nonviolent inmates out early, leaving the jail with a more aggressive population.

"It leaves us with the worst of the worst," he said.

During the lockdown, the majority of inmates will not be allowed to have visitors and also lose other privileges.

Dover said that the lockdown "could last for another two days or two weeks."

He said that officers will spend that time screening inmates to make sure they are not placed in situations where they could get in fights with rival gang members.

Pazin said that news about the gang fights and subsequent lockdown was not announced because he did not think they were unusual events.

"For us, it's day-to-day, almost routine," Pazin said. "You just get used to it."