International Journal on Criminology Volume 3, Number 2, Fall 2015 | Page 53

International Journal on Criminology
II - PRISON GANGS: ANATOMY OF THE THREAT
Although different from one prison system to another, prison gangs have, by
necessity, a shared anatomy and a number of characteristics in common. Although
we could, in a typological manner, distinguish between those that are created in
prison on criminal foundations, those re-created in prison based on external structures,
and those whose purpose is activist proselytism, we shall not take this approach here.
It is generally considered that prison gangs are highly selective, and demand
absolute loyalty; they operate under codes, and adopt a hierarchical structure, dividing
tasks and applying a military-style discipline. They employ violence and corruption
systematically.
A - Selective Membership
Accession to a gang rests on selection made by the hierarchy of the organization.
While specific criminal skills are generally required, ethnic criteria are often
decisive.
This is the case in the US where the principal prison gangs were first created along
ethnic lines: Latin Americans created the Mexican Mafia, African Americans created the
Black Guerrilla Family, 128 whites, the Aryan Brotherhood, 129 and Puerto Ricans, 130 La
Neta, each of which had its turn enjoying a near monopoly over its ethnic group.
Competition and pre-incarceration gang membership significantly increased the
numbers of prison gangs. Under the pretext of escaping the domination of the Mexican
Mafia, but also to compete with them, other Hispanics, for example, founded Nuestra
Familia, reserved for Hispanics from Northern California.
To break free from the philosophical-political constraints of the Black Guerrilla
Family, other African-American gangs emerged in prisons, their organizations based on
pre-incarceration membership of Street gangs with the generic denominations Bloods
and Crips. 131 These prison gangs call themselves the Consolidated Crip Organization
128
Founded in 1966 in the California State Prison, San Quentin by a former member of the “Black
Panthers”, George L. Jackson. First known as the “Black Family” and the “Black Vanguard,” it mutated
into the BGF in 1971, when Jackson was killed, with two other detainees as they attempted to escape
on August 21 of that year. His successor, James “Doc” Holiday (sic), formerly one of the leaders of the
“Symbionese Liberation Army,” gave the gang its final name.
129
Appeared in San Quentin in the early 1960s. See below, “Codes of Conduct.”
130
Formed in 1970 in Puerto Rico, the gang first tried to stop the violence between inmates in Rio
Pedras prison. It rapidly adopted a “cultural” and above all political image. The Neta's members in
general belong to the revolutionary group “Los Macheteros” which campaigns for the independence of
Puerto Rico and against the “colonialism” of the United States. They are principally found in prisons in
the eastern United States.
131
Bloods and Crips, originally from Los Angeles, are now spread across the United States. Within
these “criminal faiths,” gangs are not only autonomous but often rivals outside the prison. “Today...
Crips are the number-one killer of Crips.” Shakur. Monster. This is not the case within the prison
system.
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