Prison Gangs Essay Example

In our prison environments, there are many kinds of threats to inmate and officer safety daily. The correctional system in our country contains many gangs within the walls and connected to our streets. These groups, known as Security Threat Groups, are usually operated by race, and are active in our Federal Bureau of Prisons and in at least 40 state correctional systems. Inmates are pretty much forced to join their racial group or gang to ensure their personal safety while in prison. In the 1980’s and 1990’s, inmates were more racially twisted than ever before, and each race in a facility had a leader if not more than one. Inmates isolate themselves from other racial groups. While this was producing more racial tension in the environment, it was also producing Security Threat Group’s that were getting more organized and skilled at running the drug trade and social environments within the walls of the correctional facilities. Some of these gangs are more organized than others are, and produce the most followers. Because of organizational factors and growing numbers of members, the Aryan Brotherhood, Ku Klux Klan, the and MS-13 have emerged as our biggest security group threats in the American corrections system.
The Aryan Brotherhood originated in San Quentin in the mid-sixties and was founded by Barry Mills and Tyler Bingham. This group is one of the best known gangs with many crews in our correctional facilities. The Aryan Brotherhood started to protect white inmates from black inmates during the time that the prisons were integrated. The Aryan Brotherhood is primarily located in the southwest and pacific areas of the country and is weakest in the northeastern areas where blacks are the strongest.
The creed of the Brotherhood is, “I will stand by my brother. My brother will come before all others. My life is forfeited should I fail my brother. I will honor my brother in peace and war.” Members of the Brotherhood are lifetime members who commit to a blood in,