Prison Gangs: Gangs and Security Threat Group Awareness Essay -- secur

One of the major problems of corrections today is the security threat group - more commonly known as the prison gang. A security threat group (STG) can be defined as any group of offenders who pose a treat to the security and physical safety of the institution. Throughout the 1960's and 1970's, prison gangs focused primarily on uniting inmates for self protection and the monopolization of illegal prison activities for monetary gain (F.B.P., 1994, p. 2). STGs are mostly divided along racial lines and practiced defiance towards authority. STGs use a variety of hand signs, alphabet codes, tattoos, and different types of gang terminology. Gangs characteristically have rivals and make an alliance with other gangs. The criminal activity of S.T.G.’s does not only exist inside the confines of the prison walls, but has flowed to the outside world. â€Å"Prostitution, extortion, drug selling, gambling, loan sharking – such activities are invariably operated by prison gan gs† (Gaines, Kaune, Miller, 2000, p.652). The Texas Prison System consists of eleven classified security threat groups; Texas chooses to classify a gang as a STG when they become involved in violent activity. â€Å"Prison gangs exist in the institutions of forty states and also in the federal system† (Clear and Cole, 2000, p. 260). Three main stages that the offender will experience with the S.T.G. are recruitment, the gang experience, and affiliation upon release. Recruiting efforts begin with the intake of the offender into the prison system. The best recruitment takes place in transfer facilities where offenders are held before they are classified as to what security level prison they will be sent to. There are steps that must be followed when becoming a prospectiv... ...y not only endanger themselves, but also family and friends. As it is stated in many of the by-laws, â€Å"blood in, blood out†-membership is for life. Bibliography: Bohm, R.M., & Haley, K.N.(1999). Introduction to Criminal Justice (2nd edition). New York: Glencoe/McGraw-Hill. Clear, T.R., & Cole, G.F.(2000). American Corrections (5th edition). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth. Federal Bureau of Prisons.(1994) Security Threat Groups Symbols and Terminology (Fall 1994 edition). Sacramento: U.S. Government Printing Office. Gaines, L.K., & Kaune, M., & Miller, R.L.(2000) Criminal Justice in Action. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth. Ralph, P.H.(1997). From Self Preservation to Organized Crime: The Evolution of Inmate Gangs. In J.W. Marquart, & J.R. Sorensen (Eds.). Correctional Contexts: Contemporary and Classical Readings (pp. 182-186). Los Angeles: Roxbury