International Journal on Criminology Volume 3, Number 2, Fall 2015 | Page 74

Organized Crime Behind Bars
Without the active participation of guards 237 in the traffic, the availability of
food, drugs and money within the prison would be severely restricted. One prisoner
tells of an exchange between an inmate and a member of the prison staff: “If you have
money you can buy anything, and if you got the guard right, you can send him out
for cartons of cigarettes. If you make them happy you can even get them to bring you
some Nando's 238 or whatever. To guard [young offenders], you need a lot of money, you
have to sell stuff [to pay them]. There are many boys who sell drugs or dagga, all these
things, and the police sell everything going.” 239
In the US, during the trial of “King” Hoover, mentioned above, a guard admitted
that, like other colleagues, he earned between 500 and 1000 dollars a day bringing
drugs into the prison. He added “every gang has its appointed guards—usually chosen
from among those working in the visiting area, where drugs are handed over.” This
witness added, unsurprisingly, “If anyone talks, he puts his life in real danger.” 240 This
is on top of the substantial loss of “remuneration.”
King Hoover's corruption appears to have reached even greater proportions.
According to an informant: “When Mike Lane was director of the Illinois prison
administration, 241 he'd often call in at Vienna 242 and walk a while in the courtyard
with Hoover. Lane had had Hoover moved to the institution. Rumors said someone
outside put an envelope containing cash into Lane's hands through some third parties.
Whoever they were, they changed all the time, like they were some kind of circuit
breaker.” 243
In a Nevada 244 high security prison, guards have been corrupted by members
of the Aryan Warriors. Involved in drug trafficking inside the prison, these guards
allowed gang members to use mobile phones to call outside. They also helped them
pass messages between them. One of the opponents of the gang was killed after guards
left the door of his cell open. Sixteen officers of the Nevada Prison Service (out of a
total of 1,800) were specifically named by members of the gang at their trials. 245
In Maryland, the police, the DEA and the prison authorities conducted an
operation to dismantle organized trafficking in state prisons. Twenty four people were
charged, mostly members of the Black Guerrilla Family, but also a number of prison
staff.
237
“I was paid to help inmates escape.” Words of a guard in the Cape Times, April 1, 2004, 4. A former
guard at Johannesburg Prison [Kgukutli Louis Pobe] told the Jali Commission how he and some
of his colleagues collaborated to facilitate the escape of prisoners, how he was paid for this, and for
remaining silent about complaints of theft.
238
A fast food chain.
239
Gear and Ngubeni. Daai Ding, 68.
240
Tyson, Ann. “Prison Threat: Gangs Grab More Power.” The Christian Science Monitor, 89, 160, July
15, 1997, 44.
241
Transferred to another, non-penitentiary branch of the administration in 1999.
242
Vienna Correctional Center, Vienna, Illinois.
243
Knox. Gangster Disciples.
244
Ely State Prison, White Pine County.
245
Las Vegas Sun, May 25, 2009.
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