Gangs in Prison Are a Major Contributor to Violence in Prison

Gangs in Prison Are a Major Contributor to Violence in Prison

Introduction

The most elementary objective of all prisons is to keep up the secure and safe atmosphere for prisoners, workforce, and visitors. Efficiently administering prisoner behavior is significant in achieving this target. Correctional practitioners and criminologists are concerned that jails promotes criminal conduct amongst prisoners, meaning that the jails are criminogenic. Criminologists have been debating ever since the beginning of prison system that whether prisons are rehabilitative or criminogenic. One of the most persistently disrupting and trouble making vigor in correctional system is prison squads. Penitentiary gangs are the most basic reason for the violence in jails and they serve as one of the most fundamental intimidation to the security of workforce and other prisoners. The document highlights the way in which prison gangs erode the institutional framework and its purpose of rehabilitation in criminals by augmenting violence and crime related activities.

Discussion

Violence because of Prison Gangs

Many researchers argue that prison gangs are actively involved in the drug business and also serve as dominating factor in prison violence. This is usually augmented by the fact that inmates of gangs are aggravated by their desire to be at the top of the power structure of inmates within the framework of prison system. They want to make money and dominance in every aspect is more important to them. Aggressive behavior between penitentiary inmates is persistently augmenting. There are certain prison regulations that are implemented by the dominant inmates belonging to gangs and when those set of laws are not followed by the less dominant prisoners, the consequences can be hazardous. These include acts of violence against each other. With authority and dominance being so imperative to prisoners belonging to violent gangs, frequently there are clashes to demonstrate who is more dominant and authoritative.

Literature Review

Lyman in 1989 defined the prison gang as an organization that operates with the jail system as a self enabling criminally oriented body, comprising of a specially chosen team of inmates who have crafted an ordered and structured chain of authority and are supervised by particular code of conduct .The prison gang usually functions in under the shade of confidentiality. And achieve its aims and objectives by manupulating the prison atmosphere through violence and intimidation aimed at non members.

These security threat teams are the groups of identifiable individuals in prison whose delinquencies pose numerous grave threats to the prison regulation. These security menace groups might amalgamate mutually into prison gangs. In spite of the organizational structure, security threat groups and prison gangs serve as similar threat due to its interchangeability and also because of their correspondingly inconsistent association with violence and misconduct occurring in the prison system behind the bars (Allender & Marcell, 2003).

Undeniably, the effectual handling of prison gang inmates is the supreme and most vital concern of correctional system (Carlson, 2001). For example Fischer in 2001 explored the fact that inmate gang member were ...