Prison Gangs Essay Research Paper

Prison Gangs Essay, Research Paper

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& # 8220 ; Once inside, I was walked through a gantlet of despairing work forces. Their

hot odor in the muggy corridor was every bit disgusting as their visual aspect. None of them

seemed to hold a full set of front dentitions. Many bore conspicuously displayed tattoos

of skulls or devils. One could reason whether it was the expression of these work forces that

led them to prison or whether it was the prison that gave them their expression. Merely

looking at them made me fright for my life & # 8221 ; ( Hassine, 7 ) . Most inmates in

correctional installations felt the manner that Victor Hassine felt on his first twenty-four hours in a

correctional installation in Pennsylvania called Graterford State Prison. New inmates

are seen as & # 8220 ; fresh meat & # 8221 ; . They fear their life. Most of these inmates find

sanctuary in packs.

Inmates join packs for protection. Gangs in correctional installations are more

of a necessity, unlike street packs. People don & # 8217 ; t need a pack to last in the

street because there are other ways one can happen aid, a household, protection,

belongingness, etc. But in correctional installations one & # 8217 ; s mercantile establishments are limited. One & # 8217 ; s

preoccupation in gaol is survival which leads inmates to alter their wonts,

personality, and even their values. Populating in an environment where & # 8220 ; an

unexpected smiling could intend problem, a adult male in uniform is non a friend, being

sort is a failing, and oculus contact is a menace & # 8221 ; doesn & # 8217 ; t go forth one much of a

pick, does it?

There are legion packs in correctional installations but among the most

common are the Latin Kings, Five Percent State, and the Netas. Some packs in

these installations are extensions of neighborhood street packs. Their names are

based on their urban location, like the 21st and Norris Gang, the 60th and

Market Gang, and the tenth Street Gang in Philadelphia. There are besides less

common prison packs like Los Solidos, Latin Locos, G27, Nation, Brotherhood,

Elm City Boys, 20 Luv, and Esses. White packs about ever originate in prison

and are a minority. They are non well-structured or good established. They are

normally made up of members who are frequently aliens to each other, most of

them brought together by the colour of their tegument. However, note that & # 8220 ; when

researching the beginning of packs it is sometimes hard to separate fact from

fiction or legend & # 8221 ; ( Walker, 1 ) .

The Latin Kings are & # 8220 ; chiefly in correctional installations and big

metropolitan countries throughout Connecticut, Chicago, and New York & # 8221 ; ( SE-GAG ) .

They are chiefly Hispanic but some Italians, Portuguese, Jamaicans, and

Haitians have joined the Latin Kings. They have an & # 8220 ; established hierarchy and

concatenation of bid and have strict regulations of attachment & # 8221 ; ( SE-GAG ) . They are the

oldest and largest Latino street pack which dates back to the 1940 & # 8217 ; s in

Chicago, Illinois. The pack was formed to & # 8220 ; protect and continue the individuality of

their civilization and aspired to the personal, societal, and economic demands of it & # 8217 ; s

people fearing verbal, mental, and physical onslaughts by their American

opposite numbers & # 8221 ; ( SE-GAG ) .

Netas originated in the gaols of Puerto Rico during the 1970 & # 8217 ; s. Their

primary doctrine is to recommend peace and harmoniousness among the inmates in gaol.

They feel that they are portion of an laden group of people & # 8220 ; unwillfully & # 8221 ;

governed in the United States. The Latin Kings were their challengers at one point but

now they are confederations. They are preponderantly Hispanic with some White and

Black members. They have an established hierarchy including a president, frailty

president, recruiter, secretary, sergeant of weaponries, and hatchet man. They have 29

regulations that all apply to the member & # 8217 ; s behaviour in correctional installations. Some of

their regulations include: make non steal, esteem all inmates, if you want something wage

and if you think you can & # 8217 ; t pay so don & # 8217 ; t borrow, make non lustfully want an

inmate & # 8217 ; s visit, street beefs are dead in gaol, respect the officers so that you can

be respected, wear & # 8217 ; t fight with your household, watch your personal hygiene, and If

you want to speak to the constabularies take person with you to watch your dorsum and be

a informant.

The G27 & # 8217 ; s are non common in the United States correctional installations but

members of this pack have found their manner into the United States gaol system and

Numberss are turning quickly. They are a Hispanic pack that formed in the Puerto

Rico prison system in 1979. They are & # 8220 ; acrimonious & # 8221 ; enemies of the Netas. Members of

the G27 & # 8217 ; s cover their organic structure with big tattoos of the Virgin Mary. But non much

else is known about this quickly turning prison pack.

I interviewed Jake Alonso from Monmouth County Jail in Freehold,

New Jersey. He states that inmates in Monmouth County Jail do non name these

groups packs. Members call their groups & # 8220 ; organisations & # 8221 ; . When I asked him why

he joined he said because & # 8220 ; I don & # 8217 ; T want a *censored* up my buttocks & # 8230 ; when you claim one of

these organisations you don & # 8217 ; t acquire *censored*ed with every bit much because you got your

cheeps behind you & # 8221 ; . In other words, they serve as protection. Furthermore he

provinces that it is the system and those people who are nescient to packs that call

them packs. He said that each & # 8220 ; organisation & # 8221 ; has their ain history and that the

organisations are motions and went on to compare them to Democrats and

Republicans. They are Rebels. He told me that when a kid molester or raper

comes in they beat him to a bloody mush and do his life a life snake pit.

In order to belong to one of these & # 8220 ; organisations & # 8221 ; one must hold a clean

record, which means no & # 8220 ; rats & # 8221 ; & # 8211 ; no trades with the constabulary. Jake is a member

of the Netas. Harmonizing to him, in order to go a Neta you need to hold a

clean record and be low. It is a Latino pack, nevertheless, Whites, Asians, and

Blacks are besides welcome to fall in. In order to go a Latin King you need to

hold a clean record and you have to be Latino. Five Percent State is a Black

pack but they don & # 8217 ; t care about your nationality or whether you have a clean

record or non. Members of the Five Percent Nation name each other Gods. It is a

spiritual & # 8220 ; organisation & # 8221 ; .

However, Victor Hassine did non fall in a pack throughout his sentence in

Graterford State Prison, Pennsylvania. Hassine wrote a book in prison called Life

Without Parole in which he portions all the experiences he had been through as

an inmate in Pennsylvania & # 8217 ; s largest and most violent penal establishment. The

experiences he portions with us is rather different from what I have shared with you

therefore far. However, most of the information in this book refers to over a decennary

ago. It is a gustatory sensation of all the alterations that have occurred in correctional installations.

Graterford State Prison was made up of over 80 percent White staff with

over 80 percent Black inmates. Inmates had to sort themselves as either a

White or a Black. It didn & # 8217 ; t affair if you were Hispanic, Asian, or of any other

race. The individual got to take. Most gang members were already street pack

members which bore street names like the sixtieth street pack. So it was

geographics that brought most gang members together. Philly packs greatly

outnumbered any other packs and most frequently excluded foreigners. Black inmates

that were non from Philly formed their ain packs which did non hold every bit much

power. Black packs competed with each other over sod and the control for

& # 8220 ; contraband & # 8221 ; gross revenues. There were violent conflicts between them. Black packs

chiefly operated as money devising endeavors.

& # 8220 ; White packs at Graterford were a wholly different narrative & # 8221 ; ( Hassine,

63 ) . They normally formed while seeking protection from other pack members.

& # 8220 ; White packs at Graterford were more likely to be little, jury-rigged groups

instead than organized squads with specific dockets, and were by and large much

less diverse than their Black counterparts & # 8221 ; ( Hassine, 63 ) . Black packs preferred

to hold as many members as possible to protect their sod and generate more

involvement but White packs preferred to hold a choice few people to stretch their

resources. & # 8220 ; White drug nuts tended to fall in together in order to pool their financess

to purchase drugs at a volume price reduction & # 8221 ; ( Hassine, 63 ) .

& # 8220 ; The exclusions in Graterford were the criminal bike packs that

successfully managed to intrench themselves within the prison system & # 8221 ;

( Hassine, 64 ) . The Hell & # 8217 ; s Angels are one of the bike packs that were good

recognized and had the ability to vie with the Black packs. They were

concern oriented every bit good.

However, Victor Hassine did non fall in a pack. He had a few friends with

whom he played cheat with everday ; a Jew and a Muslim. He got into bashs like

everyone else but gang engagement was non a necessity for Hassine as it was

for Jake. During my interview with Jake, he made me experience the demand

that most inmates have for pack engagement. It makes me believe that the

environment in correctional installations are tougher than they used to be. Possibly if

Victor Hassine was sentenced to a prison now it would be much harder for him to

resist pack engagement. One thing is obvious though. It was much harder to

belong about a decennary ago because the lone races identifiable in correctional

faciities were White and Black. Now we have legion Hispanic and Asiatic

packs.

The research I have done has influenced me to clearly province that if I were

of all time to be in such a state of affairs, I would most decidedly join one of these packs or

organisations. I wouldn & # 8217 ; t take the opportunity of standing entirely in such an

atmosphere where you are seen as fresh new meat in every context of the word.

Would you?