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 of S.T.G.’s does not only exist inside the confines of the prison walls, but has flowed to the outside world. “Prostitution, extortion, drug selling, gambling, loan sharking – such activities are invariably operated by prison gangs” (Gaines, Kaune, Miller, 2000, p.652). The Texas Prison System consists of eleven classified security threat groups; Texas chooses to classify a gang as a STG when they become involved in violent activity. “Prison gangs exist in the institutions of forty states and also in the federal system” (Clear and Cole, 2000, p. 260). Three main stages that the offender will experience with the S.T.G. are recruitment, the gang experience, and affiliation upon release. Recruiting efforts begin with the intake of the offender into the prison system. The best recruitment takes place in transfer facilities where offenders are held before they are classified as to what security level prison they will be sent to. There are steps that must be followed when becoming a prospectiv... ... middle of paper ... ...y not only endanger themselves, but also family and friends. As it is stated in many of the by-laws, “blood in, blood out”-membership is for life. Bibliography: Bohm, R.M., & Haley, K.N.(1999). Introduction to Criminal Justice (2nd edition). New York: Glencoe/McGraw-Hill. Clear, T.R., & Cole, G.F.(2000). American Corrections (5th edition). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth. Federal Bureau of Prisons.(1994) Security Threat Groups Symbols and Terminology (Fall 1994 edition). Sacramento: U.S. Government Printing Office. Gaines, L.K., & Kaune, M., & Miller, R.L.(2000) Criminal Justice in Action. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth. Ralph, P.H.(1997). From Self Preservation to Organized Crime: The Evolution of Inmate Gangs. In J.W. Marquart, & J.R. Sorensen (Eds.). Correctional Contexts: Contemporary and Classical Readings (pp. 182-186). Los Angeles: Roxbury
Wright, J. (2012). Introduction to criminal justice. (p. 9.1). San Diego: Bridgepoint Education, Inc. Retrieved from https://content.ashford.edu/books/AUCRJ201.12.1/sections/sec9.1
Seigal, L. J., & Worrall, J. L. (2012). Introduction to criminal justice (13th ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
Relations during this time with the prison and the outside world are discussed, as well as how these relations dominated life inside of a prison and developed new challenges within the prison. After Ragen left, Frank Pate become his successors. Pate faced a problem because he neither sought nor exercised the charismatic authority of Ragen. The Prison remained an imperatively coordinated paramilitary organization, which still required its warden to personify its goals and values. Jacobs goes on to discusses how what Pate did, was not the same direction or ideas that Ragen was doing or had. Jacobs’s counties this discussion with the challenges and issues that prison had during the time of 1961 through 1970. Jacobs blames that the loss of a warden who could command absolute authority, the loss of local autonomy, it heightened race problems among blacks, and the penetration of legal norms exposed severe strains in the authrotitarian system, and says pate cant control
According to the prior summarized research, the origin of the supermax facility is established. It is identified that these facilities were necessary to create order among inmates in the general prison population. Differing characteristics of inmates can potentially create havoc and chaos in prison environments. Although there are inmates who request placement in supermax facilities, inmates who do not choose to be housed in these facilities demonstrate certain constant factors seen among the population in supermax facilities. It is understandable that gang affiliation, mental illness, and specialized needs for protective custody lead to placement in supermax facilities due to the protection of correctional officers and staff, along with the
Santos, Michael G. Inside: Life Behind Bars in America. New York: St. Martin's Griffin, 2006. Print.
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.
While in prison criminals become part of the gang or a member of the gang's victim pool. Race and culture seem to be the major factors in the victimization of inmates. The inmate may not be racist when he enters the system, however the need for survival against other inmates may force these characteristics to become more prominent. In the summer of 1998, a young man named William King was convicted and sentenced to death for the murder of James Byrd Jr. Byrd was a black man from Jasper County, Texas, whom was bound at the ankles and dragged to death behind a truck. Why would this young man commit such a terrible and seemingly racist crime? Most would agree that it was his time spent in prison that led William King to take the life of James Byrd Jr. Friends and family of William stated that he was a pleasant before he went to prison for burglary. When he was released, he was a different person who spoke about white supremacy and was anxious to initiate his own supremacist gang. King’s defense attorney explained that it was the high rate of violence in the Texas correctional institute that caused him to become a gang member for a sense of security. William's defense attorney argued that he was merely a victim of the deteriorating prison system in this country (Racism, tolerance, and perfected redemption: A rhetorical critique of the dragging trial, Larry A. Williamson, 2009). The reality of prison gangs is nearly impossible to ignore. King's story, although not a defense for his crime, sheds light on today's prisons and the gangs within them. Newly admitted convicts are often victimized to no end until they join a group or gang that displays power and their intentions to survive prison life. Violence, rape, and murder are just a fe...
The article starts off by describing prison gangs. Prison gangs have been called “cohesive groups of prisoners, with a leader, whose criminal activities
Siegel, L. J., & Worrall, J. L. (2012). Issues in Policing. Introduction to Criminal Justice (13th ed., pp. 252-258). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
The prison system has shaped the modern world and helped to create the society we have today. We feel safer and, especially in the United States, we are freer and can keep our sense of freedom because we feel safe enough to do what we want. The prisons systems have set up their own methods of keeping the small world of the prison in control. They have created their own rules, and regulations to keep the system running smoothly. “Further, the National Prison Association (NPA)—forerunner of the American Correctional Association (ACA)—already had been in existence for three decades, providing a valuable professional forum for prison officials to meet, share ideas and advocate solutions” (Herman 50). It is essential that these systems keep constant control of the situation inside the prisons. The control that they put over the prisons not only needs to be maintained, but ne...
“The history of correctional thought and practice has been marked by enthusiasm for new approaches, disillusionment with these approaches, and then substitution of yet other tactics”(Clear 59). During the mid 1900s, many changes came about for the system of corrections in America. Once a new idea goes sour, a new one replaces it. Prisons shifted their focus from the punishment of offenders to the rehabilitation of offenders, then to the reentry into society, and back to incarceration. As times and the needs of the criminal justice system changed, new prison models were organized in hopes of lowering the crime rates in America. The three major models of prisons that were developed were the medical, model, the community model, and the crime control model.
Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice, 27, 343-360. http://ccj.sagepub.com.libaccess.lib.mcmaster.ca/content/27/3/342
Shelden, R. G. (1999). The Prison Industrial Complex. Retrieved November 16, 2013, from www.populist.com: http://www.populist.com/99.11.prison.html
This paper will discuss the prison gang issue that exists in our correctional system. It will list several powerful gangs that populate the prison and jails around the country. Descriptions of the gangs will be given along with their history and courses of action they take to maintain discipline within its culture. From the criminal justice side the discussion will cover issues of safety, temptation and corruption that happen when dealing with the various gangs. Finally this paper will propose some personal solutions I think would help ease some of the issues correction officers and those in the criminal justice system have to deal with daily.
Although a standard definition does not exist, gang delinquency can be defined as law-violating behavior committed by groups of youth and adults, that are complexly organized and that have established leadership and membership rules (Curry & Spergel, 1988). Gangs engage in a range of different crimes, but most significantly in violent crimes, as a means of upholding norms and values in regards to: mutual support, conflict relations with other gangs, and tradition (Curry & Spergel, 1988). They are organizations concerned with territory, status, and the ability to control behavior. For disadvantaged youth, who lack the opportunities to succeed in a socially acceptable manner, gangs effectively provide meaningful social and even economic structures. In gang membership, there is the opportunity to create personal identity, but there are minimal standards of acceptable status (Curry & Spergel,