¶ … Gangs in Prisons in the United States and the Affect Rehabilitation Programs to Help Inmates Upon Release Prison Gangs are one of the most challenging entities that have to be tackled by the authorities. Their growing influence in the prison setting concerns not just the inside of the prisons, but also the outside world, as when they are released, the members continue causing problems for the society. A lot of rehabilitation programs have been formed in order to provide guidance and a fresh start to the inmates who are released, which helps them overcome their criminal life and lead a normal one. This paper discusses the phenomenon and existence of criminal gangs and how the rehabilitation programs affect them after their release.

Introduction

According to Lyman (1989), a prison gang is a criminal entity made up of special group of chosen prisoners that is governed with some sort of code and structured within a strict chain of command. Most prison gangs often conduct their operations in secrecy and have a goal of controlling certain quarters of the prison through the use of violence and intimidation towards those who are not members (p. 48).

Public authorities are becoming increasingly concerned about the growing influence of prison gangs not only in the prison settings, but also in the outside world. Scholars are worried that the criminal activities conducted by such groups have gone beyond the confines of the prison walls. Reports are also indicating that many more gangs are being formed in prisons these days compared to what was the case a few years ago (Ruddell & Winterdyk, 2010). For instance, according to a 1999 study by the National Gang Crime Research Centre, the number of inmates affiliated to prison gangs in state prisons rose from 9.4% in 1991 to a whopping 24.7% in 1999. Another study by the American Correctional Association found that correctional facilities had an average of 11.7% gang-affiliated prisoners in 2003 and that the figure rose to 13.8% in 2008. Using the 2008 proportions by the American Correctional Association against the total prison population brings the total number of prisoners affiliated to prison gangs to about 200,000 individuals. This number goes a long way to show just how big a security threat these gangs are in the society.

The negative influences of prison gangs in the correctional facilities are well-known. Some of the threats posed by prison gangs include: distribution of contraband materials (including drugs and weapons), prison riots, major incidents, higher rates of prison violence, higher interracial, interethnic and inter-gang incidences of violence, running of criminal enterprises in the community, preventing the rehabilitation of convicted individuals through support of criminal conduct, and lastly, undermining reintegration into the society as parolees may feel justified to go back to their life of crime (Ruddell & Winterdyk, 2010).

Challenge of Prison Gangs

As the situation currently stands, there are many more men and women in prisons than the case was a few decades ago. For instance, as of 2000 the total prison population was approximately 2,000,000 individuals. The duty of improving the quality of life and making sure that inmates are rehabilitated is a shared one, between community members and those tasked to manage correctional facilities. This is because prisons are public institutions that are funded using taxpayers' money and that what happens in these institutions to some extent, determine whether an inmate is rehabilitated, if he or she can successfully reintegrate into the community, or not. It is, however, interesting to note how many in the public think that inmate and prison management is an easy job. This has led to calls by lobby groups and politicians to have some "luxuries" such as education programs, fitness equipment and color televisions removed from correctional facilities so as to make these institutions tougher. Many individuals have the simplistic opinion that making prisons tougher could force prisoners to straighten out and that it can scare others from committing crime. The prevailing clamour is that if individuals choose to get involved in crime, they should be left to suffer the consequences. It should, however, be noted that such simplistic measures cannot solve the problem of prison gangs (Fleisher & Decker, 2001).

Prison Gangs: Structure and Organization

The typical prison gang in the United States is made up of a leader who is in charge of a "committee" of members who oversee the gang's operations. Most criminal gangs have such strong structures and chains of command that they look much more organized than gangs operating on the outside. Studies indicate that leaders...

The two most important qualities that a member must have in such groups is the ability to keep the group and its operations a secret and also the ability to be loyal to the group. Many such groups are often in the business of smuggling contraband, including drugs into the prison. Prison gangs also make sure that their members are protected. Indeed, it is because of the protection "services" offered by prison gangs that many inmates decide to join. Gang members are the biggest bargaining chip in criminal organizations such as these ones; when members leave a group, it suddenly becomes vulnerable and exposed to attacks (Fleisher & Decker, 2001).
Many researchers have found that most of the violence in prisons is caused by gangs. Much of the violence is fuelled by the desire to be sole suppliers of contraband in the prison and also the desire to hold the most power in such settings. Many of these gangs are formed in overcrowded prisons where staff cannot keep an eye on all the activities of every inmate under their care (Fleisher & Decker, 2001).

Correctional Responses to Prison Gangs

It is no doubt that prison gangs have had negative influences both inside prisons and in the outside world. These effects have led to prison administrators making correctional responses to the rule violations, disorders and crime. For instance, many correctional facilities have come up with policies to control gang-affiliated prisoners. Even though scholars have argued that one of the major reasons why individuals join such groups is the need for social identity, this doesn't explain the importation of mottoes, symbols, names and structures from the outside world. Other reasons why prisoners join these gangs include race/ethnicity, personal interests, and the need for belonging. However, to try and suppress the tendency to join social groups would not work as an overall management strategy. This was tried before in the Pennsylvania system and it didn't do any good. However, this is the case in super-maximum security correctional facilities (Fleisher & Decker, 2001).

Many administrators of correctional institutions have tried both covert and open strategies to control prison gangs. Some of the strategies used include: case-by-case examination of violations or offenses committed by such gangs; disruption of external and internal communications; prosecution of criminal offenses committed by such gangs; use of lockdowns; isolation of the leaders of such gangs; use of segregation to separate gang members; use of informants to get information about what is happening in the blocks or in the cells. However, no studies have been done to investigate how effective these strategies are in the suppression of prison gang activities. The most popular among these suppression strategies is the use of segregation. The procedure entails locking inmates for 23 hours a day in their cells and then letting them out for one hour. An example of where this strategy worked effectively is in the Texas system. The state decided to segregate all the known members of prison gangs in 1985 so as to cut their influence on the rest of the inmate populations. This resulted in significant reductions of gang-related homicides, and armed assaults (Fleisher & Decker, 2001).

Administrative isolation works because segregating gang leaders disrupts the chain of command within such groups and this frequently leads to the breakdown of groups. Apart from segregating the leaders they could be transferred to different blocks or prisons. Another gang suppression strategy is out-of-state transfers. In this strategy, gang leaders are transferred to correctional facilities in other states in the hope that this will stop prison gang operations. However, there is not yet a published report that shows the effectiveness of this strategy. Indeed, some have even argued that transferring such individuals to other facilities could give them the opportunity to spread their gangs (Fleisher & Decker, 2001).

When Prisoners Return to the Community: Political, Economic, and Social Consequences

State correctional facilities took in 591,000 individuals in 1999 and released about the same number of convicts. If juveniles and federal inmates are added to the number of individuals released from prison, then over 600,000 people are released yearly…