From a historical standpoint, prison gangs first emerged in the 1950s in Washington State. Their purpose was to provide social support among inmates and to provide protection from persecution and abuse by more predatory inmates or groups of inmates. After emergence in Washington, additional and separate prison gangs formed in other states such as California, Illinois, and Texas in the 1960s. In 2011, the National Gang Intelligence Center estimated that 230,000 gang members were incarcerated in federal and state prisons. If the behavior of any inmate group behavior poses a threat within the correctional environment or threatens to disrupt prison control, the group may be labeled as a strategic threat group. This article focuses on prison gangs and strategic threat groups as well as on prison management strategies related to these groups.
For the most part, prison gangs form along racial, cultural, ethnic, religious, political, or geographic lines (i.e., former place of residence). Once a prison gang grows in members and power, the focus of prison gangs shifts from protection and social support to prison gang criminal profits. The prison gangs are profit oriented and become criminal enterprises that regularly conduct criminal activities such as extortion; sale of protection services; debt collection; bootlegging; gambling rackets; and smuggling of tobacco, alcohol, drugs, food, clothes, video games, computer tablets, and cell phones inside prison walls.
Definition
There is no uniform definition of the term prison gang. Federal and state jurisdictions differ on the number of individuals required for a prison gang, whether the gang formed inside or outside prison walls, the degree and nature of deviant or criminal activities, and whether the group has been validated according to a set of identified prison gang criteria. However, most definitions of what constitutes a prison gang include the following criteria:
- three or more incarcerated individuals
- who recurrently commit deviant or criminal activities and
- the activities of the group responsible for the deviant or criminal act are known.
In contrast, the American Correctional Association limits the definition of a prison gang to include only gangs that formed inside prison walls. For example, the Aryan Brotherhood and the Black Guerrilla Family both originated within prison walls and would qualify under the American Correctional Association definition of a prison gang. However, the more restrictive American Correctional Association definition would not include the Bloods, Crips, or Latin Kings since those gangs first emerged as criminal street gangs and later migrated to prison once a sufficient number of the street gang members were incarcerated.
However, the distinction of whether the prison gang originated in prison or on the streets is not particularly useful when determining the threat level of a prison gang. Prison gangs that emerged within prison walls and gangs that migrated from the streets are both disruptive and potentially threatening to correctional officials. Both forms of prison gangs, regardless of origin, are powerful prison subcultures that control conduct among select subgroups of prison inmates.
Most prison gangs, whether established in prison or on the streets, have established alliances with criminal street gangs. In return for protection services, the allied street gangs pay taxes (i.e., a percentage of the street gang’s profits) to the prison gang and carry out orders received from prison gangs. Often, these orders facilitate control of drug trafficking and other criminal operations conducted by the street gangs as well as smuggling of contraband inside prison walls. As such, the distinction of where the prison gang first emerged is not particularly useful when determining the degree and nature of criminal activity orchestrated by the prison gang.
Instead of tracing the roots of a prison gang, an alternative classification that might be more useful for determining the threat level of a prison gang is based on the nature and degree of power exhibited by the prison gang. Factors that could be of paramount importance include the following:
- strength of the prison gang in terms of gang members, prospects, and associates
- territorial control (i.e., migration) of the prison gang to other federal or state prisons
- the number and strength of allied criminal street gangs
- the nature and degree of criminal activities committed on behalf of the prison gang
- the regional, national, or international scope of criminal activities committed on behalf of the prison gang
- the degree and sophistication of organization and leadership of the prison gang
- the disruptive nature and perceived degree of threat perceived by correctional officials
Psychological Underpinnings That Support Prison Gang Membership
To understand the psychology of joining a prison gang, one must understand the nature of incarceration. The inmate is literally stripped of personal belongings, is assigned a number, has restrictive contact with family or friends, and is physically moved to a new residence that is often shared with a violent or socially deranged stranger. Understandably, this can result in feelings of isolation, fear, and loneliness.
One response is to join a prison gang. Membership in the prison gang offers protection from predatory inmates, social support, and access to a broad array of contraband not enjoyed by other inmates. Collectively, this helps to reduce if not eliminate the feelings of fear, isolation, and loneliness associated with incarceration.
In essence, the prison gang becomes the inmate’s new family. This solidarity is reflected in the fact that most prison gangs require new members to relinquish positions of leadership status in the former street gang as a sign of loyalty to the prison gang. In addition, the new member is required to put aside any street gang rivalries or conflicts as a condition of membership in the prison gang.
This loyalty and solidarity continues once the prison gang member is released from prison. Upon release, the prison gang member may reconnect with his former street gang and may assume a position of power and leadership in the criminal street gang due to enhanced status associated with prison gang membership. In some instances, the released inmate becomes the tax collector for the prison gang who collects a portion of the street gang’s criminal profits as payment for protection services, should members of the street gang be sentenced to prison. This symbiotic relationship creates a revolving door whereby not only prison gang members rejoin former gangs on the streets but also newly incarcerated street gangsters provide a never-ending source of new prospects for the prison gang.
Prison Gang Subculture
Prisons, by their very nature, contain many violent subcultures. It is a place where civilized society sends those who deviate from the norms of society. It is a place that warehouses murderers, rapists, thieves, and other social outcasts. As a result, inmates tend to band together for protection and social support. In large prisons, this results in differing subpopulations often aligned along racial, ethnic, cultural, religious, political, and former geographical ties. This leads to the creation of racially and ethnically divided subgroups, which evolve into prison gangs such as the Mexican Mafia (Hispanic), the Aryan Brotherhood (Caucasian), and the Black Guerrilla Family (African American). When these groups grow, the prisons are controlled, in varying degrees, by the inmate subpopulations and prison gangs.
Since the mid-1950s, subpopulations and prison gangs have evolved into highly structured business entities. To maintain control of criminal enterprises, prison gangs can be extremely violent. They are willing to commit crimes of assault, battery, and even murder to retain profits received from protection services, extortion, gambling, and smuggling of contraband such as drugs, alcohol, cigarettes, cell phones, and weapons into prison. Similarly, prison gangs control a number of allied street gangs that are willing to commit acts of violence on behalf of the prison gang in order to maintain drug trafficking and other criminal operations conducted outside prison walls.
The control of criminal activity by street gangs often starts as payment of taxes in return for protection services if and when members of the allied street gang become incarcerated. But the protection services also extend to protection outside of prison walls as the prison gang often orchestrates large drug trafficking operations among allied street gangs. This extrajudicial control over allied street gangs is accomplished by use of smuggled cell phones and messages carried from inside prison walls by visitors with street gang connections. Should any allied street gang not follow orders, the prison gang merely issues a green light for all prison gang members and all allied street gangs to beat or even murder any disobedient members or disrespectful rival gang members.
Organizational Structure
Prison gangs differ in terms of organizational structure. Some prison gangs are large and are highly structured while other prison gangs may lack strength of membership or any clearly defined leadership hierarchy. But all gangs have shot callers. The shot caller may be a single powerful gang member or a coalition of gang members who acts collectively to call the shots (i.e., determine activities and policies). Some prison gangs enjoy military-style leadership with generals, lieutenants, sergeants, and soldiers, while other prison gangs spread leadership decisions through a more democratic process in order to avoid disorder should a shot caller be transferred or killed by a rival gang.
With growth, a prison gang may spread to other prisons. If the gang emerged from inside prison walls, it may also become a criminal street gang. Similarly, a street gang may also become a prison gang if enough gang members become incarcerated. As the prison gang grows, it naturally develops alliances with street gangs to facilitate criminal operations (e.g., drug trafficking) conducted both inside and outside prison walls. In some instances, the prison gang may conduct criminal operations on a regional, national, or even international level, thus increasing the nature of its threat inside and outside prison walls.
Major Prison Gangs
As noted, prison gangs are often aligned along racial, ethnic, cultural, religious, or political ties. For example, the Aryan Brotherhood is composed of White Supremacists, the Mexican Mafia is primarily composed of Hispanic or Mexican Americans, and the Black Guerilla Family is composed of African Americans who subscribe to Marxist–Lenin political beliefs. In contrast, a few prison gangs, such as the Consolidated Crip Organization and the 18th Street gang, allow membership of mixed races.
A few criminal street gangs, such as the Bloods, Crips, or Norteños, have enough incarcerated gang members to form gang sets within prison walls. Other street gangs, however, are not large enough to form a gang within prison walls and are forced to seek protection afforded by an established prison gang, such as the Mexican Mafia.
Prison gangs in the United States include the Aryan Brotherhood, Asatru, Black Disciples, Black Guerilla Family, Black P. Stone Nation, Border Brothers, Crips, European Kindred, Fruits of Islam, Gangster Disciples, Indian Brotherhood, Insane Gangster Disciples, Ku Klux Klan, Nuestra Familia, Latin Counts, Latin Kings, La Raza, Little Rascals, Los Solidos, Maniac Latin Disciples, Mara Salvatrucha (MS 13), Mexican Mafia, Mexikanemi, Ñeta, Norteños, North Side Villains, Nubian Islamic Nation, Odinists, Simon City Royals, Skinheads, Sons of Samoa, Spanish Cobras, Sureños, Syndicate Nuevo Mexico, Tango Blast, Texas Syndicate, Tiny Rascals, United Blood Nation, Universal Aryan Brotherhood, Vice Lords, and White Supremacists.
Prison Staff
Some correctional officers assist prison gangs in their criminal activities—for example, smuggling drugs, cell phones, or other contraband in return for money, sex, and protection. Similarly, some officers may become involved in money- laundering operations, prostitution, and delivering messages between inmates and gang members outside prison walls. Corrections staff are traditionally underpaid, so they may be subject to intimidation and bribery by prison gangs. In the eyes of some guards, cooperating with prison gangs is better than the alternative of being threatened, harassed, or accosted by prison gang members.
Security Threat Group
As noted earlier, some prison gangs may be labeled as strategic threat groups. Although there is no universal definition, a strategic threat group is generally characterized as:
- a group of three or more inmates who were members of the same street gang, prison gang, or extreme political or ideological group
- with recurring patterns of threatening or disruptive behavior such as gang violence or violations of prison rules or regulations and
- who pose a threat to prison authority and control.
The primary characteristic of a strategic threat group is that the group becomes a security threat within the correctional setting. The threat may include threats to an adversarial prison gang, group violence, the ability to incite a riot, the ability to inflame racial or political attitudes, or the ability to commit gang-related crimes.
For example, the Arizona Department of Corrections defines a strategic threat group as
[a]ny organization, club, association or group of individuals, formal or informal (including traditional prison gangs), that may have a common name, identifying sign or symbol, and whose members engage in activities that would include, but are not limited to planning, organizing, threatening, financing, soliciting, committing, or attempting to commit unlawful acts or an act that violates the departments written instructions, which would detract from the safe, orderly operations of prisons. (Arizona Department of Corrections, 2018)
As indicated, large numbers is not an essential element of a strategic threat group. In fact, the CCA defines a strategic threat group as any group of two or more individuals that is disruptive or threatens prison order.
Strategic threat groups may have a common name or symbol, and most do. But a common name or symbol is not required. In contrast, a pattern of gang-related deviant or criminal behavior is required. A strategic threat group must exhibit behavior that breaks prison rules, is illegal, or deviates from prison norms. In addition, the strategic threat group must exhibit a pattern of disruptive, illegal, or deviant behavior.
Validation of Prison Gangs or Strategic Threat Groups
Validation is the process by which an inmate is determined to be a prison gang member or a security threat group member by prison officials. To be validated, the inmate must meet a set of prison criteria that generally includes documenting a pattern of abuses or offenses such as repeated violations of disciplinary rules, assaults, violence, or other disruptive acts over a period of time. Validated gang members, or stigged (i.e., stigmatized) inmates, may lose certain privileges or be given more restricted housing environments.
Strategies for Management
Many strategies have been tested to reduce prison gang membership and decrease strategic threat groups. One strategy is to break up prison gangs by scattering their members to various prisons or higher security institutions. The idea is to divide and dilute the gang membership. However, this strategy seldom serves to destabilize the prison gang or security threat group. Instead, it tends to spread the prison gang or security threat group to other prisons, thereby creating a broader base of recruiting and control for the prison gang or security threat group. It also serves to strengthen a prison gang or security threat group by seeding membership in multiple prisons, and in some cases, multiple states.
Another strategy is to segregate prison gang or security threat group members from the rest of the inmate population. Generally, this is difficult if there is a possibility that the prison gang will interact with other inmates in the yard, working quarters, or the cafeteria. It can also lead to largescale prison race riots.
Balancing the number of rival gang members in each prison unit is aimed at minimizing power or control by one particular prison gang. However, balance is difficult to obtain as prison gangs are constantly recruiting new prospects and associates. Similarly, to minimize power and control of a prison gang, behavior modification—that is, removing privileges for bad behavior may be removed and bestowing privileges for good behavior may be initiated. However, smuggling of contraband often defeats such attempts of rewards and punishment.
Isolation may also be used as a management strategy and is accomplished by eliminating communication channels, such as gang mail, and abolishing gang colors within prison walls. This may also be coupled with increased intelligence and information systems designed to track and monitor prison gang and security threat group activity.
Gang renouncement and disassociation programs are designed to facilitate abandonment of gang membership and accommodate any gang members who want to leave the gang lifestyle or testify against gang members.
Finally, new and increased sanctions for crimes committed inside prison walls may be instituted. These include enhancements for repeat offenders or crimes committed by validated prison gang or security threat group members. The new crimes might include recruiting of new prison gang members, selling drugs while incarcerated, or possession of improvised weapons inside prison walls. Similarly, penalties might be enhanced for prison offenses such as protection rackets, extortion, or prison gang fights.
Conclusion
As the United States incarcerates more individuals and increases average sentences, and as prison gangs orchestrate criminal activities both inside and outside prison walls, the number of prison gangs and strategic threat groups will continue to grow. With criminal activity becoming institutionalized behind prison walls, researchers may want to examine whether the goals of incarceration remain effective, especially in an environment where enhanced Internet and cell phone communication systems behind prison walls may help such criminal activity to flourish.
References:
- Baker, T. (2012). North American criminal gangs: Street, prison, outlaw motorcycle and drug trafficking organizations. Durham, NC: Carolina Academic Press.
- Wilds, M. (2011). A quick reference guide to gang symbols (2nd ed.). Dallas, TX: Imprimatur Press.
- Wood, G. (2014, October). How gangs took over prison. The Atlantic Magazine. Retrieved from https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2014/10/how-gangs-took-over-prisons/379330/