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

One of the major problems of corrections today is the certification 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 1960s and 1970s, prison gangs focused primarily on uniting inmates for self protection and the monopolization of illegal prison activities for monetary lucre (F.B.P., 1994, p. 2). STGs be 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 extraneous world. Prostitution, extortion, drug selling, gambling, loan sharking such activities are invariably operated by prison gangs (Gaines, Ka une, 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. Prison gangs exist in the institutions of forty states and also in the federal arranging (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 move 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, bank line in, blood out-membership is for life.BibliographyBohm, R.M., & Haley, K.N.(1999). Introduction to Criminal Justic e (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). capital of California 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 coeval and Classical Readings (pp. 182-186). Los Angeles Roxbury