Prison Gangs: A Case Study

Chapter Four is entitled, “[The] Scope and Nature of the Current Gang Problem.” It focuses on recent trends in number of gangs, gang members and gang-related crimes in each city. In Inglewood, almost all the neighborhoods were claimed by at least one gang, with gang-unit officers agreeing that the city was facing a major gang problem. In Albuquerque, gangs were involved in drug trafficking and property offenses, with 7 out of 8 gang-unit officers believing the city had a major gang problem. In Las Vegas, migration from other cities was thought to be the primary cause of an increase in gang members. 50% of crime in Las Vegas is attributed to gangs, with most officers believing they had a moderate to major gang problem. In Phoenix, the gang problem is described as wave-like, with 70% of gang-unit officers thinking the city had a major gang problem. These statistics were backed up through interviews with officers and city records.

This paper will serve as a profile of a prison gang of your choice. You will research this gang, its origins, growth, culture and newsworthy incidents. This paper should include the influence gang membership has on inmates, their progress in their sentences, rehabilitation and recidivism.

In our prison systems today, many different gangs pose a threat to our correctional staff and other inmates. In the United States, gangs exist in forty of the fifty states. These gangs bring violence, drug trafficking and racial unrest to our correctional system.

Gang members have even gone so far as to soaking postcards in substances, or gluing and ironing cocaine filled cards down to almost paper thin and sending them through mail into the prisons where if not caught, the inmate who received the card will chew on the paper to receive the effects of the drug. Another surprising factor of these gang members is the way that they continue to communicate with one another even when they are always on watch by the officers. There has been secret code languages discovered that they created on their own, so no one, other than those in the gang, can understand what they’re saying when planning for an attack or kill. Another method these inmates are using to communicate, especially those in solitary confinement who don’t get to interact with anyone, is by talking into the pipes to transfer messages from one cell to another. Through this the prisoners can talk to one another like a telephone system without the guards hearing them. The more resources and ways of communicating the gang has, the more powerful they are perceived, and as the gangs get larger these tasks then become a lot easier to achieve.

There are many problems with gangs in prison. These gangs cause problems and threaten the well-being of others who don’t fit into their mindset or beliefs. This problem has been going on for a long time, and has cost the prison system a lot of money throughout the country.

Over the years prison officials have come up with different ways to handle prisoners in gangs, one method is called jacketing. Jacketing is when an inmate recieves a mark on his record, or his ‘jacket’, that marks him as a gang member. From there an inmate can be moved to a higher security prison or a different housing unit if officials felt it was needed (Hunt, 1993). A problem with jacketing is it can be used by prisoners to get someone moved that they don’t like, by simply going to a supervisor as a confidential informant and pointing someone out as a gang member.

These are made possible is through an inmate’s friends and/or girlfriends ( Justice Quarterly, Vol. 20, Iss. 3, 2006). Gangs need strong leaders to maintain their power and connections to the outside world; a single inmate who best embodies the gang’s beliefs usually assumes the role. When the leader is relocated either the gang’s elite decides on a new leader or the strongest remaining gang member assumes the role. Becoming an elite member requires acts of violence that focus on weakening other gangs. Each member takes vows to be loyal and obedient, if the vow is broken they risk losing everything including their life. By deportation of inmates to facilities where they are the minority, the department can ensure that the inmate will be hard-pressed to find new racial alliances. The institution may send an Aryan Brotherhood leader in a facility heavily populated with black inmates. This does not always deter the gang violence as there is always someone to replace the leader; the prison may only increase the gang’s anger toward the system be deporting a leader, encouraging further violence. Despite segregation attempts and lock-down, prison gangs seem to remain more prevalent and visible than ever. There are about six well known prison gangs within the country: Mexican Mafia, La Nuestra Familia, Neta, Black Guerrilla Family, Aryan Brotherhood, and Texas Syndicate. Each one of these gangs has a history

What are Prison gangs? This is a criminal association that is formed in the penal system and operates within the prison system in the United Sates. Prison gangs identify themselves with symbols, tattoos, and calls (by yelling out a chant, phrase, or word/number). Prison gangs go decades back and are still present in the prison system.

Prison gangs within the penal system are problematic and a multifaceted issue for several reasons. One reason gangs are so problematic in the penal system is due to the threat they impose on others, including other types of gang-bangers, non-gang affiliated inmates, correctional staff, prison administration, and the overall security of the facility itself. According to research, “A composite measure of gang misconduct represents the threat that particular gangs pose to prison order” (Gaes, Wallace, Gilman, Saffron, & Suppa, 2002). In fact, “There is little doubt that prison gangs are the source of considerable misconduct and present serious challenges to the management of prisons, which is why numerous strategies have been employed to control and suppress gang activity” (Pyrooz & Mitchell, 2015).

“Gangs have morphed from social organizations into full-fledged criminal enterprises” (Thomas, 2009, para 5). Gangs are highly sophisticated and more dangerous then ever. The number one reason to join a gang is money; and 95 percent of gangs profit comes from drug dealing

These connections are how they are able to import the contraband and perform illegal activities within the prison. Being a member of a gang promotes a criminal lifestyle with a lifetime commitment. Since the violent lifestyle of a gang member is not likely to change, prisons must address the issue by protecting other inmates from their influence so that the problem can be controlled. By isolating gang members in a separate prison under twenty four-hour lockdown, correctional officers will be able to easily monitor what is coming in and out of the prison and keep illegal activities under control and

The article presented on this paper reveals the problem of gangs and gang related violence in our nation’s institutions. Corrections Canada has seen a 44 per cent jump in gang members in federal prisons in the last five years, to 2,040 in 2012 from 1,421 in 2007, according to the documents obtained under access to information. The correctional service constructed a strategic framework for dealing with gangs in 2006, and implemented its gang management strategy in 2008, aiming to convince inmates to drop their affiliation and limit security risks. Gang numbers have continued to rise, according to one correctional service management document. It raises a number of

Prison gangs are originally formed by inmates as a way of protecting themselves from the other inmates. These gangs have turned out to be violent and thus posing a threat to security. This paper will have a look at the different gangs in prisons, their history, beliefs and missions, and the differences and similarities in these gangs.

One of the major problems of corrections today is the security threat group - more commonly known as the prison gang. A security threat group (STG) can be defined as any group of offenders who pose a treat to the security and physical safety of the institution. Throughout the 1960's and 1970's, prison gangs focused primarily on uniting inmates for self protection and the monopolization of illegal prison activities for monetary gain (F.B.P., 1994, p. 2). STGs are mostly divided along racial lines and practiced defiance towards authority. STGs use a variety of hand signs, alphabet codes, tattoos, and different types of gang terminology. Gangs characteristically have rivals and make an alliance with other gangs. The criminal activity

The reality of prison gangs cannot be over look. Many inmates join gangs for safety and protection during their incarceration. “Prison gangs is an organization which operates within prison systems as a self-perpetuating entity, consisting a group of inmates who establishes and organize chain of commands” (Pyrooz & Mitchell). They also are governed by an established prison code. Research has shown that prison gangs have effects on non-gang members and the prison system. I will examine ten articles that explore the effects of prison gangs.