Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva has claimed the inmates at Pitchess Detention Center in Castaic have reached “herd immunity” as coronavirus cases grow in the jail. Testing is increasing through the county jail system, with the goal to test the entire jail population, currently over 12,000. As of Wednesday, about 600 inmates have been tested at Pitchess with 40 ...

With temperatures starting to warm up, raising the risk of brush fires, the Los Angeles County Fire Department has started conducting controlled burns in the Castaic area Wednesday morning, officials said. On Wednesday morning from 8 a.m. to 11 a.m., firefighters are conducting a controlled burn near Pitchess Detention Center located at 29340 The Old Road, said Marvin Lim, a ...

Just under 30 percent of all confirmed coronavirus cases attributed to the Santa Clarita Valley by the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health originated from both the Pitchess Detention Center and North County Correctional Facility (NCCF) in Castaic. Out of the 945 accumulated cases of COVID-19 that the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health (LADPH) have reported within ...

Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva announced the department had determined a group of inmates at the Pitchess Detention Center in Castaic had deliberately attempted to infect themselves with COVID-19 during his weekly virtual press conference on Monday. The department released footage captured by the facility’s video surveillance equipment which shows multiple men sharing from a single bottle of hot ...

A geo-mapping system used by the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health (DPH) to track cases of COVID-19 has been corrected after mistakenly attributing a significant number of coronavirus cases to the small community of Val Verde, rather than the nearby Pitchess Detention Center in Castaic. Val Verde, an unincorporated community just northwest of Santa Clarita, experienced a major ...

The Pitchess Detention Center in Castaic has reported 124 positive cases of COVID-19 among staff and inmates, according to data from the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health (DPH). In addition to the confirmed cases, 1,915 Pitchess Detention Center inmates are under quarantine as of Thursday, according to data published by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. It is ...

Los Angeles County Sheriff’s officials announced Tuesday that 57 personnel have tested positive for the coronavirus, and 343 employees are under quarantine. As of 9 a.m. Tuesday, 493 LASD personnel have returned back to work since the coronavirus pandemic started, according to the department. The jail population countywide was at 12,201 Tuesday, with 21 inmates testing positive; however, it is ...

Inmates at Pitchess Detention Center have started sewing masks for all inmates within the jail system, officials said Thursday. https://www.facebook.com/LosAngelesCountySheriffsDepartment/videos/610587499528888/   Inmates that are being held in both the Pitchess Detention Center and Century Jail have started using their sewing classes to make masks, according to Sheriff’s officials. When COVID-19 began to affect the jail system, Deputy Christine Badaracco, assigned ...

The Los Angeles Department of Public Works is seeking Los Angeles County Board approval to make key preliminary project decisions in preparation for the proposed Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department Pitchess Emergency Vehicle Operations Center project. The vote, set to take place on Tuesday, Feb. 4, would pertain to key decisions in the construction process, including the approval of the ...

The Pitchess Detention Center alarm sounded Monday morning in Castaic, but no jailbreak was reported, officials said. Around 12:40 a.m. Monday, the siren for the Pitchess Detention Center in Castaic was heard throughout the Santa Clarita Valley, said Sgt. Benjamin Grubb, a spokesperson for the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Information Bureau. Though the alarm went off, officials confirmed that no ...