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CALIFORNIA PRISON GANGS: THE PRICE OF CONTROL

NCJ Number
147610
Journal
Corrections Magazine Volume: 8 Issue: 6 Dated: (December 1982) Pages: 6-19
Author(s)
B Porter
Date Published
1982
Length
14 pages
Annotation
This article reviews the history of gangs and gang activity in California prisons, along with current and previous corrections policies toward inmate gangs.
Abstract
The review of the history of inmate gangs and their activity in California prisons begins with the prison turmoil of the 1960's. Inmate gangs examined include the Nuestro Familia, the Mexican Mafia, the Aryan Brotherhood, and the Black Guerrilla Family. Since the early 1970's, the California Department of Corrections' policy has been to identify gang leaders and gang members responsible for violence and lock them up in segregated units. They have no contact with inmates in the general prison population, since they have their own dining hall and their own exercise yard, which is watched by a well-armed tower guard. When entering and leaving the yard, inmates are strip-searched. Inmates leave their cells only for showers, family visits, or work assignments; they must be escorted by a guard. Although the segregated, lockup policy has stabilized violence that was once rampant and uncontrolled in California prisons, the gangs are still responsible for many of the hundreds of stabbings, assaults, and murders in the system every year.

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