32 nd Canadian Congress on Criminal Justice Oct. 28-31/09 Halifax, NS.

1. Prison gangs: A review and survey of strategies by: John WinterdykMount Royal University, Calgary, AB. & Rick Ruddell, CSC (Director of Research/Eastern Kentucky Un.) 32nd Canadian Congress on Criminal Justice Oct. 28-31/09 Halifax, NS. ESC '09 Winterdyk - MRU

2. Overview • Conceptual overview • Prison/correctional responses to prison gangs • Project methodology • Results • Conclusions-recommendations • Discussion ESC '09 Winterdyk - MRU

3. Why here? • Who involved directly with correctional facilities? • Who has gangs members in their institution? • What are the presenting issues? • What type of responses re treatment/management/intervention? ESC '09 Winterdyk - MRU

4. “Imprison a large batch of others, and a competitive market, and division will form” – Trulson et al., ‘06 Conceptual overview: • Gangs proliferating since late ‘70s (Camp ’85) • 1st NA study ‚83 • 9.4% ‘91 to 24.7% ‘99 (Knox, ‘99) • STGs (Security Threat Grps) • Any grp of 3 or more…with recurring threatening or disruptive behavior…. Including but not limited to gang crime or gang violence • Hype vs. reality? • Trostle ‘96: 80s & 90s “decades of the gangs” • Dearth of studies • Est. 307,000 gang members in the US… 189,000 validated – 10% inmate pop (1.6M) • NONE empirically examined different programmatic responses to gang management • Oldest house in Calgary circa 1876 ESC '09 Winterdyk - MRU

5. Pervasive problem • Little empirical analysis of their impact on gang membership and prison violence • Mysterious and unapproachable • Gangs not limited to NA: • Mexico – Azteca drug gangs • South Africa (van ZylSmit ‘98) • New Zealand (Hubbard ‘09) • National but international ESC '09 Winterdyk - MRU

6. European scene: • Dr Peter Neumann (King's College London): governments across Europe should observe prisons more closely in the future as they were likely to become "major hubs" for terrorist recruitment. • 2009 Trio break out of Belgium with helicopter! ESC '09 Winterdyk - MRU

7. Presenting issues • Not sign % of inmate pop (3%) • Sign % of institutional violence • Recruitment • Disrupting prison operations • Compromise safety of staff and inmates • Rene Enriquez - a former leading member of the Mexican Mafia • Pierre Rondeau – former Hell’s Angels member • Importation of drugs, contraband… underground economy fuels violence • Undermine rehabilitative programs • Radicalization of inmates (Muslim, Aboriginal, terrorist factions…) ESC '09 Winterdyk - MRU

8. !! Since Fredrick M. Thrasher (1892-1970) ’27…. How best to define/operationalize • Studied 1313 gangs in Chicago • Intuitively understand but no standardized response • No two gangs alike • ??”collection of people who share the same values and goals of mainstream society but responding to particular socio-economic conditions” (Sanchez-Jankowski ‘03) ESC '09 Winterdyk - MRU

9. Responses to prison gangs • Inmate informants (Wilkinson & Delgago ‘06) • Segregation units (Fisher ‘02) • Isolating gang leaders (Rivera et al. ‘03) • Locking down (Ward & Werlich ‘03) • Rotating or transferring gang leaders (Crouch & Marquart ‘89) • Converting prisons into gang-free facilities (Rivera et al. ‘03) • !! Knox ‘00: specialized training but very limited • Curry & Decker ‘03: no published eval on efficacy of these suppressions • Grekul & LeBoucane-Benson ‘08: steps w/o evidence! ESC '09 Winterdyk - MRU

10. Project Methodology • 2 parts: • Extensive lit review • Survey 53 US prison systems (fed, state and corp) • Emailed surveys to prison Directors • Preceded with phone contact to notify and secure cooperation • Semi-structures questionnaire • Six primary areas • Response rate 70% (N=37) - 70+% gang inmates ESC '09 Winterdyk - MRU

11. Results • Section I: gang membership • 2% to 50% estimated STG mean 18.04% STG • Validated STG members 0-39% mean 10.9% • 58.9% noted an increase since 2004 • 6.1% from more sophisticated organizations • 22.2% “hard core” • Intervention strategies • 36.1% increase in litigations or grievances… undermine • 51.9% join after admission! • STG resp 66.7% of inst. violence • !staff understanding of STG & genuine threat • Historical fact: Wash S. 1950, CA 1957, Ill 1969… ESC '09 Winterdyk - MRU

12. Section II: STG Management strategies • 34% institutions have ‘special’ sanction • Segregation; restrictions on privileges; loss of good time credits, etc. • Segregation 69.2% “very effective” • Limit visitations 57.1% • Control release destination 25% ESC '09 Winterdyk - MRU

13. Section III: Strategies for reducing STG recruitment • 1/3 of institutions offered type of educational program/intervention – incoming • Only 27% claimed actually effective! • 15% relied on debriefing sessions • ! 48.7% become affiliated once ‘inside’ • Thwarting is a challenge!! • Why affiliate: protection, social status, ‘friends’ • ! A need for safer institutions ESC '09 Winterdyk - MRU

14. Section IV: Reducing STG influences • Historically target gang leaders • 50+% still target • 36.8% isolate • 31.5% criminal prosecution • 16.7% investigator’s time (poor) • 82.9% intelligence sharing effective • ! Almost no formal risk assessment tools used… <10% used a threat assess ESC '09 Winterdyk - MRU

15. Section V: STG – gang renunciation (GR) and treatment • Fortsythe ‘06: few programs, older gang members, & small grps • 35% institutions have some type of GR program • Majority “somewhat” to “not” effective! • Few formal treatment intervention • Reliance on case management activities of counselors, casework specialists… ESC '09 Winterdyk - MRU

16. Section VI: STG – gang investigation • Over 90% collect ind. and facility info • !!search STG member’s mail • Analysis of phone records Monitor STG affiliated persons in the community • Less than 20% use computerized system • <20% conduct evaluations • Info shared with: • Internal (78%); law enforcement (64%), other jurisdictions (53%) ESC '09 Winterdyk - MRU

17. Summary • Objective to gain a richer understanding of initiatives and strategies • Diverse range of strategies • Proactive – remove trouble makers, segregations... • Very limited systematic research on gang control • Increasing • Lack formalization and lack of evaluations • Practices (promising) but not ‘evidence-based’ • Limited cooperation • Reduction of resources to combat/research! ESC '09 Winterdyk - MRU

18. Containment and sanctions effective at managing • Isolate but delay community transition • Importance of intelligence sharing • Internal screening • Over 50% NOT affiliated before entering • How recruited ?? • Pathways to STG?? ESC '09 Winterdyk - MRU

19. Recommendations“oppressive measures…when not used in concert with meaningful social interventions…may well..facilitate the growth if prison gangs” Grififn ‘07:228 • CJS cooperation….Camp ’85! • National and international analysis • More closely examine law enforcement efforts • Models for management need to be tested for effectiveness • Understand the „push“ and „pulls“ • Explore alternatives to suppression • Understand how/why 50+% STG enter unaffiliated • Learn what motivates prison gang/STG participation before further action • jwinterdyk@mtroyal.ca ESC '09 Winterdyk - MRU