Most people do not think much of criminals after they are locked up in prison. Some people believe as long as criminals are confined and watched over, then we are safe and secure, but in reality we are not. Chris De Benedetti, staff writer for the Oakland Tribune explains that prisoners form into gangs and are able to commit crimes even from the inside.
Prison gangs started as a group of inmates with similarities, defending themselves from other inmates. As the number of inmates grew inside prisons, more groups were formed in order to show superiority over other groups. They turned to violence and drug trafficking within the prison walls.
Here are six major prison gangs:
Neta
Aryan Brother
Black Guerrilla family
Mexican Mafia
La Nuestra Familia
Each of the major six prison gangs has a specific race make-up. For example, the Aryan Brother consists of only white members, and the Neta is a Puerto Rican-American/ Hispanic gang. Racial make-up allows for a certain prison gang to gain as many members as it can.
Majority of the prison gangs are affiliated with gangs outside of the prison walls. For example, the Black Guerrilla Famliy is affiliated with black Crips/Blood gangs. These prison gangs are similar in what they do such as drug trafficking, extortion, murder, robbery, and rape. Acts of violence are to show superiority over one another and to put fear into other inmates to either recruit them or use inmates as tools.
Prison gangs not only commit crimes inside the prison walls, but they are reaching out to the public as well. For example, leaders of prison gangs are issuing commands to gang members outside the prison to commit crimes and also to transfer drugs into the prison walls. How would this work? Some inmates will have the opportunity to be on parole. The parolee will cooperate and communicate to the prisoners and gang members outside the prison and provide information of what is happening on the streets. Prison gangs would use coded letters to send to a parolee or an outside affiliated gang member to commit a crime or to transfer drugs.
As more and more parolees are released into the community and more prison gang crimes occur it would become the communities’ problem as well. So it’s our duty to work with our community to eliminate prison gang activities from our community and prison system.
References:
Benedetti, Chris De. (May 2003). Prison gangs reaching through bars. Retrieved October 30, 2009 from http://findarticles.com/p/articls/mi_qn4176/is_20030527//ai_n14548906/
Danitz, Insight. (September 1998). The gangs behind bars. Insight on the News. Retrieved October 26, 2009 from http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1571/is_n36_v14/ai_21161641/
Florida Department of Corrections. Major prison gangs. Retrieved October 31, 2009 fromhttp://www.dc.state.fl.us/pub/gangs/prison.html
Logan, Samuel. (May 2009).
Miller, Bill. (October 2007). Prison gangs. Retrieved October 26, 2009 from http://startelegram.typepad.com/crime_time/prison_gangs/
Montogomery, Michael. (March 2005). Gangs Reach Out of Prison to Commit Crimes. Retrieved October 26, 2009 from http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4525733
United States Department of Justice. Prison gangs. Retrieved October 31, 2009 from http://www.justice.gov/criminal/gangunit/gangs/prison.html
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