Many prisons in the United States continue to experience the emergence of prison gangs that operates within the prisons. This has led to the rise in new forms of violence that cause serious security threats to the inmates and prison environment as a whole. These groups have proved to exist as corporate entity that has a perpetual occurrence and with reflective memberships. Due to these threats, many prisons have come up with new forms of vigilance and strategies aimed at combating these groups and restoring parity within the prisons. A specific example of such prison gangs is Mexican Mafia, which operates in the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. Mexican Mafia as a prison gang has led to serious violence and criminal activities using a variety of techniques within the prison to conduct their activities.
A prison gang refers to an organization of the inmates that operates within the prison system, and with a criminal motive ( Skarbek, 2014 ).
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Mexican Mafia group is considered one of the most powerful and dangerous prison gangs not only in California but in the whole of United States. The Mexican Mafia gang was formed in 1957 by a group of 13 street gang members who originated from different neighborhoods prisons at California Youth Authority facility, currently known as the adult state prison located in Tracy within California State ( Skarbek, 2014 ). The purpose of the formation of this prison gang group was to protect themselves from the attack and threats from other prison gangs that were on the rise at the time. Luis Flores was one of the key founders of Mexican Mafia gang. He was initially a member of another prison gang known as Hawaiian Gardens gang that is located in Hawaii, California. In the 1950s, many serious prison gangs existed and terrorized the inmates in many prisons in the United States. Due to these threats from certain prison gangs such as Hispanic street gangs, many inmates felt insecure, and this led to the formation of the Mexican Mafia group that has now become one of the greatest prison gangs in the state.
Initially, one of the founders, Luis Flores had recruited a group of violent members with the motive of controlling the black market activities that had been on the rise at the time within the prison facilities. In addition, the Mexican Mafia prison gang also aimed at terrorizing the prison system so that they could create fear and enjoy prison comfort while they engage in their black market activities ( Smith, 2016 ). The rise of this group to the level of causing serious threats begun in 1961 when there was a serious violence at Deuel Vocational Institution. The violence led to the transfer of some of the members of Mexican Mafia member to San Quentin with the motive of controlling the violent behaviors that was rapidly becoming serious in this prison. This strategy however failed as the arrival of one of the members of Mexican Mafia, Cadena, at San Quentin led to the formation of a new group of strong gang with more than 300 black inmates embracing him. In what then led to its rise as a feared prison gang, Cadena went back to Deuel Vocational Institution and stabbed to death one of his enemies ( Smith , 2016). This was followed by a series of attacks as the group sought to build its reputation amongst the inmates.
The rising threat of Mexican Mafia gang amongst the inmates led to the formation of other gangs to counter the rising threats. One such group that arose due to these threats include Nuestra Familia which became the first gang to be formed in California Correctional Training and Facility. In 1974, a new group of Hispanic inmates at Arizona State prison had formed a new gang known as New Mexican Mafia. This group later merged with the Mexican Mafia to form one strong gang group that took prisons by storm. The group has currently grown to have estimated number of between 300-900 members in California ( Smith, 2016 ).
Reports by the law enforcement agencies shows that Mexican Mafia is not run by a single leader as the authority, but rather a large number of senior members have the power to order for various criminal activities. The group also have a large number of associates that help it carry out its criminal activities. Group membership is based on the ability of an individual to demonstrate their loyalty to the group, and can include a range of criminal activities such as theft or even murder ( Skarbek, 2014 ). Any group member who refuses to take orders can be subjected to death. The group also has informal constitution that subjects members to various punishments when they become informants, show acts of cowardice or show any signs of disrespect to the other gang members. Members are usually subjected to take oaths which they are required to adhere to by all times or face major punishment which is murder. The operations of the gangs are guided by their rules and regulations which each member gets introduced to and breaking such rules can be seen as a sign of disrespect to the group and can led to murder.
One of the strategies that are is used by California Department of Correctional and Rehabilitation is the inmate classification system. This is a system in which the inmates are assigned to different housing security usually based on their perceived security threats. The purpose of this classification is to enhance monitoring of their activities and control misconduct and any criminal activities. The assessed risk of misconduct of an individual is used, and referred to as “housing score” where there is increase monitoring of the inmates and their daily activities by the prison staff ( Petersilia , 2016). This monitoring reduces the cases of increased prison violence and the conduct of criminal activities by the gang.
In addition, California Department of Correctional and Rehabilitation also uses special service unit where there are more than 32 special officers, usually the criminal investigators. The major role of these officers are to conduct investigations into criminal activities going on within the prison and providing the necessary action to be taken. The team also monitor the gang activities by gathering intelligence and presenting the report for actions to be taken. Even though California Department of Correctional and Rehabilitation has constantly used the two methods to identify and control Mexican Mafia gang, this group has continued with its criminal activities in the prisons causing more threats and murders ( Petersilia, 2016 ). This shows that these strategies have not been successful in controlling Mexican Mafia which continue to increase its influence in the prison.
In contrary to the strategies used by California, Texas Department of Corrections uses Gang Renouncement and Disassociation Process, which is a system proving the gangs willing to denounce their membership to do so and then participate in a nine month process that increases success of reforming from gang activities. At the end of the Gang Renouncement and Disassociation Process, “he offender will be released into general population and assigned to a unit recommended by the State Classification Committee. If the offender is found to be involved in STG activities after release to general population, the offender will be returned to administrative segregation and will not be allowed to participate in the GRAD process again” ( Pyrooz , 2018). This process has been useful in helping the inmates belonging to a particular gang to make a change of mind and seek rehabilitation that changes their criminal activities.
Florida Department of Corrections relies on the use of security threat intelligence unit that works by collecting data and analyzing it before it is distributed to the intelligence to monitor any activity or existence of prison gangs within the centers. The security intelligence have played a key role monitoring the criminal gang and controlling their activities in a way that promotes success. In addition, Florida Department of Corrections relies on relocation or restrictions of the prisoners who have been found to engage in criminal activities within the prison system ( Pyrooz , 2018). Relocation is a case where members suspected to be running a gang are taken to different prisons that make it difficult for them to continue coordinating their activities. This strategy has however not been so successful in ensuring that the prison gangs are controlled and stopped from committing murders.
In conclusion, prison gangs continue to be a new threat to the law enforcement officers and the criminal justice system as a whole. Mexican Mafia in specific has led to serious cases of murders and thefts within the prisons and creating more violence and threats in these inmates. While California has employed various tactics to control prison gang, these strategies have remained unsuccessful and thus more modern and effective strategies that can help combat such crimes. One such strategy is to do prison reforms and introduce programs that help prisoners to develop positive behavioral changes. These can be most effective because they target specific behavior modification thus leading to overall behavior change that is not only useful in the prison but also after incarceration.
References
Petersilia, J. (2016). Realigning corrections, California style. The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science , 664 (1), 8-13.
Pyrooz, D. C., National Institute of Justice (NIJ), US Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, & United States of America. (2018). Using restrictive housing to manage gangs in US prisons. Corrections Today , 11.
Skarbek, D. (2014). Prison gangs, norms, and organizations. Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization , 82 (1), 96-109.
Smith, C. F. (2016). When is a prison gang not a prison gang: A focused review of prison gang literature. Journal of Gang Research , 23 (2), 41-52.
