Violence in Prison and Gang Violence
This course will examine contemporary issues within criminal justice systems. The course material is divided into three categories, Gun Control, Prison Control, and Community Issues.
Each category will have a sub category. You are to select one category along with its subcategory e.g.; Gun Control and Mandatory Sentencing, Community Issues and Gang Violence, Prison Violence and Mental Illness as a topic for the final paper.
Each week you will have assignments leading to the completion of the final paper. The final paper must be submitted in an APA format that will include the following components:
Title page
Introduction
Body
Conclusion/Recommendations
References
Interpersonal violence is an endemic challenge in correctional facilities across the globe. A survey done in the prisons located in the U.K would find that an estimated one in ten prisoners has experienced physical assault within six months (DeLisis, 2004). 15% of the inmates under the age of 21 reported being violent victims for the same duration. Recent data would also indicate that 14% of prisoners have acted violently towards other prisoners within five years (Delisi et al., 2004). A substantial number of prisoners are subjected to various victimization forms. This is also stamped by the fact that most of the victims may fail to report the incidents.
Notably, among the youth and prisoners in communities and correctional facilities, the majority of members who join gangs have illustrated a robust correlation between engaging in criminal activities, being violent, and having several antisocial behaviors. One of the significant determinants of prison misconduct is gang membership. Investigators in the criminal justice system have determined street gang involvement as a pre-prison imported by inmates into correctional facilities and contribute significantly to violence, misconduct, and maladjustments in the facilities (Worrall & Morris, 2012). Therefore, prison behavior becomes a primary function of the criminality of an individual inmate.
Additionally, criminologists have viewed prison gang involvement as a way to adapt to prison life’s situational dynamics or the prison’s structural conditions. Furthermore, deprivation theorists have vindicated that super-individual fundamental forces, specifically the pain and challenges that arise from prison life, will primarily determine the behavior of an inmate (Worrall & Morris, 2012). Therefore, whether one considers the violence as an variable of importation or deprivation, several researchers have found that inmates that were previously affiliated with gangs disproportionately engaged in violent activities in the prisons in conjunction with other misconduct forms.
This research paper intends to focus and advance the understanding of the affiliation of gang violence to prison violence. This understanding is to aid in coming up with the right measures to reduce the prevalence of violent activities within the correctional facilities.
Gang Violence
Statistics have indicated that street gangs’ members will engage in higher offending levels compared to their counterparts who are not members of any groups. Gang members have demonstrated to have a disproportionate rate in criminal activities, specifically for serious and violent crimes (DeLisi et al., 2004). Research on several gang members in various correctional facilities across the United States indicated that these individuals were 20 times more likely to engage in a drive-by shooting, and ten times more likely to commit a homicide. These probabilities were also evident in robbery and public assault crimes. Apart from the crimes, these gang members engaged in antisocial acts such as the random intimidation or assault of patrons in trading centers used and sold drugs in educational institutions, and assaulted their instructors in schools at extremely higher rates (DeLisis et al., 2004).
To facilitate the link in gang violence, these individuals had an interrelationship with illegal weapons. These individuals have exhibited higher propensities to owning and carrying the guns and would have peers who owned, moved, and concealed their illicit weapons. Various researchers have indicated that the bulk of criminal activities related to violence, drugs, property crimes, among other heinous ones, are all related to gang membership. While gang membership is illustrating a robust correlation to delinquency, these individuals have shown many facing risks such as peer rejection, school failure, victimization, and feeling like failures when attached to the conventional social institutions (DeLisis et al., 2004).
Prison Violence
When inmates join correctional facilities, most of them tend to join established prison gangs. A prison gang is an organization that is operational within the correctional facility as a self-perpetuated crime entity. The entity consists of several inmates who have built a proper chain of command and guided by an established code of conduct. These gangs typically operate secretly, and their primary objective is to carry out the gang activities through imposing control over the prison environment. This control is achieved by being intimidating and violent towards the non-members. While most prison gangs participate in the illicit prison economy, most of their members have joined to protect themselves from potential violence from fellow inmates or as a method to gain status in prison (McGuire, 2018).
Even for those who are not gang members, prison violence is now something that has been both accepted and expected. Offenders who engaged in drug and property crimes before imprisonment have a probability of being released as violent offenders due to the constant exposure to high violence levels during their incarceration periods (McGuire, 2018). The inmates are forced to portray tough and masculine appearances to forestall any violent attacks from their fellow inmates. While the gang members may constitute a relatively smaller percentage of the inmate’s population, they account for a considerable portion of the violent activities in prison. This violence is exacerbated by fighting members who have illustrated disloyalty to the gang and those who want to leave the gang.
The Correlation Between Gang Violence and Prison Violence
The reasons given to violence occurring between inmates have been attributed to three considerations over time. These explanations are primarily the deprivation of particular experiences in the prison system, the characteristics, and attributes imported by the prisoners into the correctional facilities and situational factors (Worrall & Morris, 2012). From the deprivation perspective, prisoners may undergo experiences that will cause them to act in a manner compatible with those conditions. This is because they have been deprived of conventional freedoms; thus, they experience pain associated with confinement. Issues such as prison crowding, lengthier sentences, and custody levels are considered to be deprivation variables and would quickly lead an individual to be violent.
The situational perspective entails the combination of the preceding and the myriad predictors of inmate violence (Worrall & Morris, 2012). Issues such as the prison’s architecture, organization, and the entire social system affect the war inmates perceive the situation to influence their behaviors during a violent action ultimately. Policymakers have indicated that it is difficult to ascertain the impact of these factors since they are not as constant as those listed in the deprivation and importation perspectives. An association has been illustrated between the characteristics of staff to the rates of misconduct. However, due to the staff’s turnover rates, it has no impact on informing prison management and their policies. The situational perspective could aid in finding reasons for the gang-related violent activities happening in correctional facilities. Research done by Siennick, Mears, and Bales (2013) indicated a steady average reduction in violent incidents in six weeks before a visit, which would rapidly increase by 61% within a week after the visit. Situational factors demonstrate an influence on the prevalence of gang violence within the correctional facilities.
In the importation perspective, inmate characteristics and behaviors are considered to have been imported as they came into prison (Worrall & Morris, 2012). For instance, the street codes which these individuals valued before incarceration are carried into the prison, thus influencing their conduct in prison. The demographics of the inmates have demonstrated a correlation to the inmates’ violent activities. One of them is the age where the young prisoners are the common perpetrators of violence compared to elderly inmates. Research by Adams(1992)indicated that younger inmates prefer to resolve their conflicts in a manner that demonstrates visibility, toughness, and strength. Notably, these younger inmates are also victimized more than elderly inmates. The effect of the race also constitutes one of the imported characteristics causing prison violence.
Notably, inmates’ criminal and social history is much more predictive of their violent behavior than the race factor. The offenders who exhibited violent behaviors before incarceration tend to be passionate in prison compared to non-violent offenders. Most of the violent offenders were found to be unemployed, have lower levels of education, do not have established relationships, and were incarcerated during their younger years. Additionally, gang membership has a clear association with one’s propensity to engage in prison violence. At least three in five studies indicated that a correlation does exist between gang membership and prison violence.
Nonetheless, some researchers indicated several intricate patterns with the correlation of gang membership and prison violence. For instance, a member of a prison gang is considered to have more influence than having a history of gang membership before incarceration. These results were attributed to the higher control levels exerted by the “chronic gang members”. Variables such as being a gang member who committed homicide to have higher prediction levels of engaging in prison violence. Still, none of the variables have predicted prison violence on their own. Research done by Gaes et al. (2002) found a descending order in the levels of violence when a comparison is made in consideration of one’s embeddedness within the gangs. This embeddedness considers the differences among the core members, the suspected members of the gangs, and associates of the gangs.
Prison violence, primarily through gangs, is different from the gang activity outside the correctional facilities (Kristine, 2011). For instance, while homicide is among the most feared forms of violence within the society, this crime is the least-perpetuated within the prison community. The homicides that occur in prisons arise from particular gang activities such as an assault against another prisoner. From the 1980s, homicide rates within the prisons have reduced tremendously. Some have indicated that the reduced numbers are due to the segregation of known gang members from other inmates that are frequent offenders of rules related to violence. The exclusion prevents the two from committing additional violent activities against other prisoners.
Other violent activities include sexual violence in a bid to control each other. Many rival gang members have used both overt and covert sexual violence activities to be dominant over other members (Kristine, 2011). The phenomenon is currently seldom within the female prison systems as females are less likely to perpetrate sexual violence against their colleagues. Female inmates are more likely to use sexual coercion than overt sexual violence but are rarely connected to gangs’ involvement.
The comprehensive research is done on violence within prisons, and the roles played by the gang membership illustrate the existence of a direct correlation. Nonetheless, there is a need for broader integration of the different notions such that one or two particular factors can be considered control variables to others. The more general framework will need to integrate the various theories of crime to generate discussions beyond the deprivation and importation frameworks alone. Considering the multiple studies done on the two issues, this discussion can ascertain that gaming membership and prison violence. Therefore, prison systems need to be aware that prisoners coming into the facility who were gang members have a higher probability of engaging in prison violence than those who have no affiliation with gangs.
Recommendations
In consideration of the correlation between the two issues, this research recommends several policies that correctional facilities could improvise to reduce the violence rates. Currently, the correctional facilities have restricted gang membership among the prisoners and have implemented various formal methods to eradicate or minimize the membership of gangs into gangs (Kristine, 2011). This will ultimately reduce gang violence within the correctional facilities. One standard method has been to lengthen the prison sentence of individuals of the identified gang members. Nonetheless, since the gang members already have life sentences, the technique has provided minimal incentives for the individuals to leave the gangs. The prison policies usually consider the potential of the punitive measures to uncover the secrets related to the membership in gangs.
One of the recommended strategies is identifying, segregation, and tracking measures in a bid to control the gang activities within the correctional facilities. The organizations need to identify the potential members of gangs successfully. The inmates undergo a classification process where trained specialists identify potential gang members (Wooldredge, 2020). After the selection, the facilities could place the distinguished individuals in disciplinary segregation where they are given no privileges except an hour of recreation. The privilege can also be revoked if the authorities deem it appropriate. Disciplinary segregation will play two roles: to punish the gang membership and prohibition of any interactions with other gang members, thus reducing violence within the prison facilities (Kristine, 2011). Notably, housing the gang members together could lead to the members interacting with other gang members who could increase the violence at the institutions.
The correctional facilities could create a number of them, which will be considered the gang-free facilities. For one to be enrolled in these facilities, they should have no history of being a gang member. The facilities have a propensity to experience fewer violence rates and safety compared to others. This will prevent other inmates from joining the gangs they would have joined if they were in a facility with the organizations. Currently, some databases are tracking and monitoring prison gangs and activities. The correctional facilities could share with other agencies; this information expressly for the inmates that have been identified as gang members (Kristine, 2011). When the agencies are aware of an individual’s conduct, they can easily monitor the individual regularly and punish them for violence and gang activities.
The second recommendation is a treatment, rehabilitation, and education strategy. This strategy will utilize information from the classification process. It involves taking tye identifies potential gang members and placing them on a peer-led program. This program is spearheaded by individuals who were previously members of gangs and guided the new inmates on how to survive in the correctional facilities while avoiding violence. The mentorship curriculum includes problem-solving skills, role-playing strategies, and the provision of treatment for substance abuse. Other alternatives for the program is to have different policies for the existing gang members to cease their commitment to the gangs, and they could be returned to the general correctional population from the segregation parts.
Furthermore, these inmates need to be educated on various matters related to physical and sexual violence. The inmates learn what constitutes violent activities, the provision of alternatives to destruction, and the provision of resources to deal with different forms of victimization (Kristine, 2011). The education is to ensure they know how to avoid the high-risk behaviors which will place on more significant risks of victimization and violence. Other recommended strategies include curbing contraband, increasing the connection with the loved ones, and changing the prison facilities to accommodate the individuals and ensure they have a proper rehabilitative environment.
Conclusively, the correlation between gang membership and prison violence indicates while reducing violence activities outside the correctional facilities, there is a danger posed within the correctional facilities. Therefore, proper policies must be implemented to handle the violence rates that may increase within prisons.
References
Adams, K. (1992). Adjusting to prison life. Crime and Justice, 16, 275-359.
DeLisi, M., Berg, M. T., & Hochstetler, A. (2004). Gang members, career criminals, and prison violence: Further specification of the importation model of inmate behavior. Criminal Justice Studies, 17(4), 369-383.
Gaes, G. G., Wallace, S., Gilman, E., Klein-Saffran, J., & Suppa, S. (2002). The Influence of Prison Gang Affiliation on Violence and Other Prison Misconduct. The Prison Journal, 82(3), 359–385. doi:10.1177/003288550208200304
Kristine, M. (2011). Gangs and violence in prisons. In W. J. Chambliss Key Issues in Crime and Punishment: Corrections (pp. 105-118). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, Inc. doi: 10.4135/9781412994101.n8
McGuire, J. (2018). Understanding prison violence: A rapid evidence assessment. Analytic Summary.
Siennick, S. E., Mears, D. P., & Bales, W. D. (2013). Here and gone: Anticipation and separation effects of prison visits on inmate infractions. Journal of Research in Crime & Delinquency, 50, 417-444.
Wooldredge, J. (2020). Prison culture, management, and in-prison violence. Annual Review of Criminology, 3, 165-188.
Worrall, J. L., & Morris, R. G. (2012). Prison gang integration and inmate violence. Journal of Criminal Justice, 40(5), 425–432. doi:10.1016/j.jcrimjus.2012.06.002
