Prison Gangs Research Paper

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.

The second major problem facing today’s prisons is the rise of gang activity. It is believed that most prisons are controlled by a given gang based on the region the prison is located (Falk, 2010).

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.

A gang is an organized group with a recognized leader whose activities are either criminal or, at the very least, threatening to the community. (Walker, 2011) Throughout history there have been some infamous gangs that have gotten media attention and others that have gone under the radar. One of the more underground gang structures are prison gangs. The Nuestra Familia may not be in the news as much anymore compared to other gangs, but they are nothing to be taken lightly. Prison gangs have been around since the late 20th century and only seem to be getting stronger if nothing is going to be done to prevent them. Gangs in prison have members in and out of prison. One of the more popular gangs that has been gaining steam recently is

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

Gang members in institutions recruit heavily and forge alliances to strengthen their power base and influence within the prison.

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.

“Sponsorship is mandatory, and only after acceptance may an inmate identify himself with a tattoo or patch” (Ralph, 1997, p.185). Most gangs utilize a “blood in, blood out basis for gang membership: A would-be member must stab a gang’s enemy in order to be admitted, and once in cannot drop out without endangering his own life” (Clear and Cole, 2000, p.260). Besides killing a rival there are other ways to enter the gang and receive acceptance. Those ways include, but are not limited to, assaulting an officer, doing drug deals, or “catching a cell” which means to go into a cell with members of the gang for which the recruit is trying to enter and fighting against them to determine if the prospective member can “hold his own”. These methods of entrance are what contribute to a large majority of the prison violence. The past prison experience relied on “the order and stability provided by the old inmate subculture (which) has been replaced by an atmosphere of conflict and tension, in which inmates align themselves into competing gangs and other inmate organizations” (Bohm and Haley, 1999, p. 351). The gang culture is also based on loyalty and trust of fellow members, such as a “united as one” attitude. This attitude has brought up confidence in offenders, but helped to diminish the effectiveness of the authority of the correctional officers. With the problem of gangs in hand, many states have

Gangs are becoming prevalent in today’s society and within our schools. More and more young people are turning to gangs in an attempt to escape their everyday lives and the future, which they perceive as dismal and bleak. They are initially attracted to the prestige and cash flow, which is glamorized by the street gang. Many gangs are actively involved in criminal misconduct, such as drug and gun trafficking, burglaries and homicides. However, street gangs are not just a criminal justice issue, but a social problem, which is triggered by poverty, peer pressure, boredom, despair and lacking a sense of belonging.

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.

Correction Officers in state and county run prisons and jails face serious dangers and grave responsibilities everyday. They are locked inside prison walls with some of the most treacherous men and women in the world. One of the most terrifying aspects of being a Correction Officer is the existence of gangs. Gang members are considered more dangerous than other inmates, because they are threat not only to other inmates but to correction officers as well. Gangs survive out on the streets, and continue to thrive and recruit members while in prisons. Dangerous gangs seem to enlist more members who are in prison than outside on the streets. New recruits feel scared and alone behind the prison walls, they need protection and to be respected, being in a gang gives them that.

Court-mandated changes have brought about noticeable improvements to the correctional process. However, judicial intervention within the prison system has not made prisons a safer places for inmates or correctional personnel. The main reason that prison violence is on the rise has to do with the intrusion of the courts judicial intervention. The courts have striped the legitimate authority of the prison officials to discipline their inmates(p-4). The existence of the organization has created inmate groups, or gangs, that provide self-protection and power dominance in the prison setting(p-4). The gangs have become so sophisticated that have created protection for themselves and others involved in the gang. They have ways of obtaining illegal items in prison and are even able to connect with the world outside the prison walls, to conduct illegal activity. A national survey conducted by the Camp and Camp (1985) revealed the presence of inmate gangs in 33 prison systems with an estimated membership of 13,000(p-5). The most common offenses of these gangs within prisons often consist of gambling, extortion, drug-trafficking, prostitution, and contract murder(p-7). The organized crime by gangs often is very difficult to identify and resolve, due to the gangs knowledge of how the prison works and their communication between inmates. The problem

During the 1960s, it was popular for gangs to branch out. For example, Vicelord name is used by 10 local gangs. Gangs such as California Lords, War Lords, Fifth Avenue Lords, and Maniac Lords claimed to be part of the organization called Vicelord Nation (Howell & Moore, 2010). After the mid-1960s, immigrants moved into the United States from European, Central and South America, and Asia. The children of the immigrants became the second generation. These youth eventually formed gangs in the classic gangs tradition. Youth gangs in the 1980s to 1990s are more prevalent and vicious than the 1950s (Howell & Moore, 2010). In the recent years, there are more gangs consist members with diverse origin. For example, an active transnational gang called Mara Salvatrucha otherwise MS-13 has members from “El Salvador, Honduras, and Guatemala who have lived most of their lives in the United States” (Johnson, 2006). In essence, the process would continue to a third and fourth generation of gangs as there is more