Importance Of Reliability In Writing

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).

The Prison Industrial Complex (PIC) is an organization which over the past few decades has grown tremendously in the United States. This political cartoon showcases how our societies are transitioning from dependence on the Public Education system to the dependence on the Prison Industrial Complex and how the people who are funding these corporate businesses are less focused on bettering of the community but are primarily money hungry. My close analysis of this image reveals how the prison industrial complex negatively affects our communities yet is beneficial to the people and corporations who operate them.

Even though gangs provide a sense of support, the "values" instilled in members are horribly dangerous to society. Murders and drive-by shottings go unpunished more often than not in areas like the Henry Horner Homes. Gangs have become powerful enough that high-ranking members who are forced to face the law are protected by high-priced attorneys and investigators (163).

Rational Economics Theory is utilized as an umbrella argument to explain why all individuals, including youths, become integrated into gang organizations. The theory is downright the same to microeconomic Rational Choice Theory and argues that individuals, in their desire for financial gain or more utility, utilize gangs and criminal organizations as a means to achieve their ends. Gangs are seen as nothing more than businesses or organizations that serve a primary economic function and act to provide financial sustainability for those without the ability to achieve it through other, more legitimate means.

The War on Drugs is one cause for the mass incarceration that has become apparent within the United States. This refers to a drastic amount of people being imprisoned for mainly non-violent crime (“Mass Incarceration” 2016). In addition to people who are not an immediate threat to society being locked up for a substantial duration of time, the economic consequences are costing states and taxpayers millions of dollars. Specifically, every one in five people incarcerated is in prison due to some

“Prisons began to bulge with gang members when states enacted tougher laws for gang-related crime in the mid to late 1980s.”(Martinez) On one hand the laws enacted helped get gang members off the street, but in another way it backfired by not stopping the gangs’ activity. “In many ways their number and power grew even more in prison.”(Martinez) The problem of gangs and violence has been addressed many times throughout the years by the United States Correctional Board but the board has yet to take the problem seriously.

It can be noted that mass incarceration of individuals for drug offenses serves a purpose in society. During a prison stay, inmates can be paid under a dollar an hour, while the prison and the rest of the system can see an upwards of $500 million (Love, 2017). Merton’s theory of structural functionalism can break down this system by describing as a prison as an institution that keeps convicts out of society’s way, while the prisoners work for minimal wages in order to turn a profit that eventually is returned to society. With the apparent economic opportunities that prison labor holds, the over sentencing of individuals by means of extremely harsh laws is a direct benefit to those in charge of the corrections

A study done in 1996 on prisoners of the Arizona Department of Corrections, followed inmates for the first 3 years of their incarceration. This study found that “inmates with no gang affiliation were significantly less likely that those wit either street gang affiliation or prison gang affiliation to have been guilty of a violent misconduct” (Griffin, 2006). Also noted in the Griffon study, inmates who have a gang affiliation are less likely to participate in needed rehab and vocational programs that may help them upon release. A big problem with prison gangs is that very little is known about them, this is because they are very secretive, unlike their counterparts on the streets (Fong, 1991). The reason for this secrecy is so gang members can avoid being persecuted by the prison administration.

“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

Gangs pose a threat to the safety of United States prisons by performing illegal activities and the encouraging violence. It is important to develop strategies to reduce gang recruitment, limit their influence, and sanction their misconduct in order to create a safe environment for all prisoners. With this, inmates that are involved in gangs should be put under twenty four-hour lockdown. By isolating these members, prisons will be able to limit their influence.

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

“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

“According to statistics from the National Youth Gang Center, more than 24,500 gangs, consisting of more than 770,000 members, exist in about 3,300 cities in the U.S.” (Rank 1). Although it is not illegal to be a member of a gang, it should be noted many gangs participate in illegal activity for funding and will use the money as a way to entice new membership. The “money begins flowing, and with that comes all of the things associated with material wealth that is usually beyond the reach of these adolescents without the criminal activity of being involved in a gang” (Nawojczyk 3).

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.

Over the years, prisons have relied on a series of deterrent methods. One popular method used is transferring known gang members to different prisons. When gang members are transferred it is usually in “higher security institutions” (Viano, n.d, p.176). The goal is to break down gangs by removing and separating key members. In a study of “the top methods” used in gang deterrence, inmate transfers were utilized “82.1” percent of the time (Viano, n.d, p. 175). Another, frequently used tool is “mail” and “phone monitoring” (Viano, n.d, p. 175). Which, has been a consistent feature for tracking gang activity thus far. For this reason, mail monitoring measures are used “81.5” percent by prisons and phone monitoring is used “72.8” percent (Viano, n.d, p.175). The other stats are as follows; “(72.8%) case dealings, (72.3%) segregation, and (64.1%) displacing members to different facilities, interrupting communications, and isolating leaders in high security facilities” (Viano, n.d, p.175).