NCJ Number
189652
Journal
Corrections Today Volume: 63 Issue: 4 Dated: July 2001 Pages: 96-99
Date Published
July 2001
Length
4 pages
Annotation
This article identifies and discusses some of the resources available for the sharing of prison gang-related information among corrections agencies and administrators.
Abstract
The National Major Gang Task Force (NMGTF) was formed by a small group of correctional employees in 1993 to establish a forum for sharing gang intelligence and management strategies. NMGTF has grown from the core group of 40 to 850 members. NMGTF now provides an annual conference, hosts a web site (www.nmgtf.org), and provides training and publications to its members and the criminal justice community. NMGTF's leadership recognizes the need for ongoing dialog and information-sharing between corrections and law enforcement in combating and preventing criminal activity by gang members in prisons. One of the problems in such information-sharing is the varying definitions of what constitutes a gang and a gang member. The challenge for correctional administrators is to develop common characteristics of gangs and gang members and then develop a network in which to share them. Bill Riley, a NMGTF board member, has called for the development of a corrections clearinghouse or database that all agencies would feed into for the purpose of identifying gang members as they are transferred within and across States. Local jails must also be included in the network of information-sharing, since they also have dealings with street-gang members. At its annual meeting in June 2000, NMGTF's executive board voted to develop a training division. Since then, NMGTF has presented a one-day workshop in February on "Gangs and Security Threat Groups." NMGTF has also recently published the first in a series of gang and security-treat-group management-related publications. 3 references