Gang leadership
Abstract
The number of gang leadership and gang membership in prisons is increasing rapidly just as the number of street gang members. Although gangs have been an ongoing problem in the society throughout history, a new formation of gang activities have become the central focus for most of the United States societies mostly during the 1980s. Gangs have therefore risen since that time to a higher level of power that goes beyond that of the local or even the state authorities. It is quite difficult to understand the operations of gangs. This is because they cover up many of their criminal acts and they assassinate those suspected to disclose their practices. Prisons have therefore turned out to be breeding hubs for gangs. Today, gangs flourish within the confinements of the prison walls. They are the most influential groups that both grow strong in prisons and in communities as well. This paper offers an overview on the literature existing on gang leadership and street gangs, the overall influence of prison gangs to the street gangs in the outside and the intervention measures put in place in an attempt to curb the ever-increasing prison gang problems. The paper concludes that the prison gang interventions ought to be flexible enough especially for use during unique situations of each prison. The interventions should also be planned with precise and measurable goals so as to allow for effective measure of the intervention. It is also suggested that communication among the prison systems will be emphasized as it is important for the development of efficient interventions. It is also suggested that the prison system should come up with stringent regulations on communication between gang leaders within the same confinement and also across the different prisons.
The purpose of this paper is to give a detailed demonstration of gang leadership and their capabilities to control the street gangs while still within the prison confinements. The paper will also offer suggestions on the various interventions that may be helpful in disrupting communication amongst the gang leadership across all prisons. To start with, it is important for all researchers outside the prison system should be warned that the prisons are complex and dangerous more than they may think or even imagine. It is, therefore, necessary to incorporate officials within the prison during the process of coming up with strategies for gang control. In addition, research focusing on the progress of interventions of gang-related problems is necessary for the constant effectiveness of such a strategy.
According to Lessing, (2016), Prison gangs have evolved over time from small voracious groups into complex criminal organizations with a capability to establish havoc that widens far beyond prison walls or even the present prevention plans. Some of the major nations that have experienced this evolution in great depth include Central America and Brazil. Over the years, these groups have attained the ability to organize street-level crime, completely disrupt criminal violence patterns and to the far end, hold federal governments’ hostage to incapacitating coordinated violence and chaos.
Gang leadership involves people who reside both in prison system and on the street. Prisons gangs’ ability to project power far beyond the prison confinements raises a public security concern. Prison gangs’ yields power over street people whom they expect to be imprisoned (Skarbek, 2011). Membership in street gangs increases in relation to violence rather than hasting it. It is suggested that most people join gangs for safety purposes especially when the state fails to offer it. Protection is thus one of the common reasons as to why street gangs join these gang activities. Protection is thus the most common service offered by gang leadership to members.
Gangs are expected to pay taxes so as to receive these protection services from the prison gangs (Skarbek, 2011). Thus, an inmate will not pay gang taxes if they continue receiving assault from other criminals. Extortion therefore requires monopoly power over a given resource. Therefore, the prison gangs are expected to control violence behind bars so as to induce their members to pay the tax. If protection is one of the services offered to gangs’ members who pay taxes, then it means that those who fail to pay these taxes will not receive the service as the prison gang leadership will withhold the service. Most importantly, the prison gangs has a mandate to safeguard their sources of tax revenues, therefore, they have an incentive to protect the street gangs and drug dealers within the streets from other criminals (Skarbek, 2011). They have to ensure that the street and drug dealers outside the confinement of the prison walls have a peaceful environment that favors their operations without interferences from other street gangs and dealers. It is easier for the street gangs to pay than to actually get bothered by others. Their territory is thus protected from other thieves and disputes within members and with cliques is resolved by the gang leaders. Moreover, protection is also offered when the street criminals commit illegal operations such as distributing narcotic drugs (Skarbek, 2011).
These prison groups have enlarged into larger groups that operate in multiple prisons. This is where they get the opportunity to order the daily life of prisoners who are under their jurisdiction. Moreover, all of these prison gangs often yield significant power outside prison. Minimally, they organize and tax street gangs at all levels of criminal activities. All of these groups have in one or another affected the restructuring of the local criminal markets. Overly, this has brought about central authority amongst all of the fragmented and self-governing local gangs (Lessing, 2016). The most important thing that is clearly observed in the present day prison gangs is that they all use the prison system as the main resource for the organized criminal and gradually more political actions. The spread of prison gang to multiple prisons within the prison system has been greatly enhanced through prisoner release, transfers and re-imprisonment. Prison gangs’ ability to extort street gangs leads them into offering governance that includes implementing deals, protecting their property rights and passing judgment on disputes. They also have the capacity to convincingly threaten and shake down drug dealers since they yield control over inmates in the prison system (Lessing, 2016).
Skarbek, (2011), asserts that most of the gang leaders and members previously participated in street gang activities. However, after membership, they are expected to be loyal to the prison gangs. They are also required to continue working for the gang even after they are released from the prison system. Street gangs’ members often regard membership to prison gangs as an elevated position in the criminal gangland. Prison gangs are well known for engaging in activities while in prison and still on the street. At first, they commit conventional crimes, for instance, armed robbery, assassination, and distribution of drugs. Secondly, prison gangs administer a governing system that smoothes the progress of illicit market exchange through property protection, forcing agreements and resolving disputes amongst street gangs (Skarbek, 2011). In order to limit the numbers of free riders, low-quality recruiters are filtered before they even join the group. To join the prison gang, an inmate must demonstrate high-quality participation in a street gang and must have assisted the prison gang in prisons.
Unlike the traditional gangs, the modern gangs cannot be directly controlled through the use of repressive force. This is because most of the gang leadership is already imprisoned. In reality, using these repressive forces such as having aggressive policing, anti-gang sweeps and improved sentencing can unintentionally enlarge prison gangs’ ranking. This may also result in the strengthening of the gang leadership capabilities of controlling the activities of street gangs on the streets (Lessing, 2016).
Lessing, 2016, claims that separation of prison gang leadership has proven to be counter-productive. This has facilitated prison gangs’ propagation across prison systems at states and national level. Alternative approaches such as gang truces that usually take advantage of prison gangs’ abilities to organize and calm down criminal markets can be very successful at reducing violence. However, these approaches are politically dubious thus are very unstable. This ultimately leaves the state at a partial dependency on the prison gangs for the provision of order within and without the prison confinements. In such a case, it is recommended that a containment approach should be implemented (Lessing, 2016). Policymakers ought to focus on increasing acknowledgment of the presence of prison gangs and the power that they have rather than denying or even obfuscating the fact. They should set rules of this approach hence taking advantage of the gang leaders’ capacities to calm down criminal markets while marking the separating territories where the nation can slowly supersede gangs (Compton & Meacham, 2005).
It is recommended that the department of correction should come up with an all-inclusive intelligence approach (Ruddell et al, 2006). Using the available technology, the department of correction should develop a safe and sound information technology networks. Information gathered by listening to calls made by gangs is important to the entire law enforcement society. The correctional officers should therefore endeavor to monitor a large group of criminals’ calls. They should also strive to make a full coverage of the calls made by prison gangs. Gathering and disseminating gang-related information will support law enforcers in inflicting law and in suppressing gangs. Correctional officers should also seek to monitor and control communications through emails and in-person. This assists in identifying violent rebel radicalization and activities. Communications within prison settings should be monitored to the level allowed by law (Ruddell et al, 2006). The controls to communication ought to be objective and transparent. Correctional officials are required to determine how to monitor communications and on how to achieve the appropriate balance between security issues and a gang leadership maintenance of ties with the street gangs and drug dealers. Prison officers should therefore ensure that the gang leadership does not have any access to unmonitored access to communication devices, internet or even the computers. On the other hand, they should also focus on monitoring mails as these mails use coded languages that may have a different meaning to gang groups.
Law enforcers in prison setting should also pursue a wide range of strategies geared towards locating and confiscating all cell phones within the prisons system among all gangs. They should invest in using dogs that are well trained to detect these electronic devices. The prison system should also bolster their efforts through exploring the use of the state cell phone detection technology. This will assist in monitoring and put a stop to communications within the notorious gang groups (Ruddell et al, 2006).
In conclusion, prison gangs are always involved in violence, brutality and a number of criminal activities. However, it is evident that they play a vital role in controlling governance services in criminal markets. The gang leadership is thus highly valued by street gangs mostly due to their ability to safeguard them and their operations while still in prison confinement. By defining and putting into effect property rights and resolving disputes, gang leadership governance contributes to the increase in wealth creation among street gangs. This also results in the increase in prison gang extortion of revenues. Prison groups have an excellent capability to use formal institutions such as the prison systems to further their illicit enterprises. In addition, traditional gangs have always existed in prisons but they were less powerful as compared to the present gangs found in prisons. The modern prison gangs are generally larger, better organized and mostly receives much help from street gang members found in the outside world.
References
Skarbek, D. (2011). Governance and prison gangs. American Political Science Review, 105(4), 702-716.
Lessing, B. (2016). Study Shows Prison Gangs Rule Much More than Penitentiaries. Retrieved from: https://www.insightcrime.org/news/analysis/study-shows-prison-gangs-rule-much-more-than-penitentiaries/
Compton, T., & Meacham, M. (2005). Prison gangs: Descriptions and selected intervention. Forensic Examiner, 8.
Ruddell, R., Decker, S. H., & Egley Jr, A. (2006). Gang interventions in jails: A national analysis. Criminal Justice Review, 31(1), 33-46.
