Forty-nine percent of inmates are African-American and eighteen percent are Latino. What happens is that many of these black inmates are taken from cities and locked up in prisons built in rural areas. Residents of these communities are white men and women who have limited, if any, experience of living with people of color and are of working-class background. Some of them are young men right out of high school. Not surprisingly, this encounter often leads to violence and racial tension. Hallinan writes that "it is hard to ignore that those getting rich are usually white and those in prison are usually not" (p. xiii). In other words, the profitability of the prison-industrial complex is not only corrupting the system by turning inmates into assets, but also contributing to the racial tension which still has not been erased from American society. Some of his assertions are controversial. He emphasizes the pernicious influence of the private prison industry but that industry began in 1983 and the number of private prisons today is around 150. Most of the prisons are still federally funded though Hallinan notes that the relatively small number of private prisons have developed a culture that has influenced other prisons -- namely, an emphasis "not on producing an improved inmate, one who will commit fewer crimes when released, but on producing a cheaper inmate" (p. 145). And given that the number of private prisons is growing and that the concept is being viewed as acceptable and effective by ever greater number of corrections officers, criminologists, politicians, and ordinary Americans, the influence...
He argues that the U.S. government exaggerated the threat of Communism in the 1950s to dramatically increase the defense budget and similarly the correctional system in the 1980s and '90s exaggerated the threat of crime to justify prison boom. There is always a risk of downplaying the real danger in such arguments, as there was indeed Communist bloc armed with nuclear weapons during 1950s and there were criminal gangs increasing the number of street shootings in 1980s. Hallinan, however, has a point because the crime rate does not justify the titanic prison boom that America has witnessed in the last thirty years. And there is a ground for linking prison-industrial complex to the military-industrial complex. Consider, for instance, the $77.5 million prison in Wallens Ridge, Virginia, which is "identical to the sophisticated sixteen-foot-high fence used by the Israeli government on the Golan Heights, according to the warden" (p. 204).
prison gang is a select group of inmates with an organized chain of command and an established code of conduct. They operate in secrecy with a view to controlling their prison environment through intimidation and violence meted on non-members. Some of the oldest prison gangs in the U.S. were formed as early as 1950s. Some notable example is Gypsy Jokers that operated in Washington State prisons (Fleisher & Decker,
White Prison Gangs Criminal behavior surrounds us each and every day of our lives. There are those who are affected directly and those who are affected indirectly in the society. This means that it should be the business of each person to try and control or to the best stop crime in the society. Therefore, there is an immediate need to understand the source of the criminal behavior in order to
; They have joint canteen accounts; They have outside support from other gang members; They have unique identification signs; They work to build or shape younger members; They work in seclusion, protecting the gang from outside penetration; They have no problem severely disciplining or killing those who collaborate with staff or other authorities; They try to communicate with staff as much as possible through a spokesperson, maintain self-discipline and use, when possible, threats or assault to intimidate
"Amongst the gangs were the Black Disciples, Spanish Cobras, Imperial Gangsters, Simon City Royals, Latin Eagles, Satan Disciples, and the Latin Disciples" (Folks Nation, n.d.). The term Folks was thought to be chosen as a name because of the word being an acronym. It stands for Follow the Orders and Laws the King Sets. The King at this time was Larry Hoover. He was the one who had the
However, some gang members specialize in multiple criminal activities such as street robbery, human trafficking and drug trafficking. Street Gangs Street gangs are the major concern to parents, school administrators and the communities because they recruit students and the youths across the United States to enhance the growth of gang memberships. Street gangs are the most prevalent type of gangs in the United States because they influence a strong control in
Gangs in Prison Although the United States prison system remains extremely dangerous due to overcrowding, guard and administrator abuse, and widespread detention and isolation practices that would be considered torture by the United Nations, they also serve as fertile breeding grounds for dangerous gangs, and in fact, American prisons have given rise to some of the most dangerous prison and street gangs of the twenty and twenty-first century. Of these, five
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