Why does gang activity continue to flourish in prisons where inmates are supposedly watched and controlled? What can be done to decrease gang activity in prison?

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Not all departments combat gang activity in the same manner. Some departments ignore the problem while gangs flourish and rule the roost right under the administrator's noses. Some departments mandate that identified gang members go through declassification programs and renounce their gang ties. Some departments simply lock up identified gang members and throw away the key while they're incarcerated, leaving them locked up in segregation. Budget constraints and overcrowding have an effect on the way prisons are run in the country. With funding for guards tight, and a lack of space, prisoners are able to conduct gang and organized crime business without detection and with low fear of punishment.

Experts feel that making more punishment or segregation cells is the answer to controlling gang activity. With a lack of cells, the ring leaders can't be adequately separated out. "Right sizing" was demonstrated when Five Points Correctional Facility opened in 2000 . Five Points is a 1,500-bed maximum security facility with inmates living in double-occupancy cells. This meant more maximum security inmates could be placed in a more secure setting as opposed to medium security. Violence and incidents of contraband decline at a steady pace.

According to DOCS Today magazine, February 2003, then-Commissioner Goord reported that incidents of inmate-on-staff assaults had declined thirty-eight percent, inmate-on-inmate assaults decreased forty-four percent, and gang activity was down twelve percent. Commissioner Goord stated, "Inmates know that the department now has the disciplinary space to house them if needed, and that realization has helped fuel steep declines in inmate-on-staff and inmate-on-inmate assaults."