Santa Barbara County Jail On Lock Down

The main Santa Barbara County Jail at 4434 Calle Real in Santa Barbara is on lock down and it could stay that way through the weekend.

Chief of Custody Operations Don Patterson confirmed with KEY News that a disturbance in the exercise yard led to the lock down.

A statement released by Patterson indicates the incident happened about 11:00am with about 36 inmates in the area. One inmate was transported to the hospital for a non-life threatening injury and five inmates were treated by jail medical staff for minor injuries. Patterson says no staff members were injured.

Officials say the lock down will continue into the weekend, causing an interruption of visitation.

A source tells KEY News Latino inmates beat up a white inmate worker. The source also says there has been racial tension building in the jail over the last few days.

Read the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Press Release

Stay tuned to KEY News for the latest on this developing story.