What Are Prison Gangs? Essay

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.

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

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

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.

What a prison gang is, is a group of prisoners in a prison that runs corrupt practices. These gangs can reach out to the outside to our communities and also use their influences on the streets to run their corrupt practices

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.

Street gangs in this country can probably be traced back to the first wave of Europeans who migrated to the colonies for a better life for themselves and their families. Many of the first gangs were formed as a means of self protection, with the thinking that there is simply strength in numbers. The missions of gangs in today’s society have grown and emerged to include many violent criminal avenues, including drug trafficking, prostitution, money laundering, and extortion but the original thinking that there is strength in numbers remains true. Criminology experts believe that the number of teens involved in gangs or gang activity may be as high as 1 in every 5 people in most urban areas. Those number jump to 1 in every 3 people in

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

Gang violence is nationwide and is one of the most prominent problems in the prison system today. Gangs are known to attempt to control the prisons/jails, instill fear within the prison system and throughout the society, and bring negative attention to the system. “Gang affiliated inmates comprise about 18 percent of the 18000 inmate population.”(Seabrook) A growing numbers of inmates and a large amount of them serving longer sentences for violent crimes suggest a notable increase in gangs and violence in the prison system in the upcoming future.

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

For over 50 years prison officials have dealt with the problem of gangs within the cell block walls and over the years it has evolved and shaping due to changing times, “but all jurisdictions today continue to utilize variants of two philosophies: suppression and intervention.” (Carlson, Peter M., Jan 2001).

According to Pyrooz & Decker, (2011), majority of street gangs are inherently based at local level and they tend to operate in single locations. Prison gangs are described as those whose networks are structured to a high degree and they tend to operate within prison systems. In addition, members of these gangs are the ones who have been released from prison (Hegemann, Smith, & Barbaro, 2011). With respect to law enforcement, these gangs are the most challenging to deal with. Membership of prison gangs is usually composed of fewer than fifty members.

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.

Gang initiated attacks are also common out on the prison yards and other common areas. Each gang has leaders who determine the crime that is going to be committed. Lower members of the gangs are then expected to carry out these orders or pay substantial consequences. In San Francisco, gang members of one of the largest prisons systems are pleading guilty to different crimes across northern California. These gang members have pleaded guilty to drug dealing, extortion and murder and already serving life sentences for prior crimes. (Michael Montgomery,