Prison Gangs - The David's and the Goliaths

Gangs can often be one of the leading reasons why people go to prison. Members associated with gangs will do whatever it takes to be accepted and to gain respect. This usually deals with killing a person and also committing other crimes that are considered serious. You would think that once the offenders of these certain crimes go to jail that they will get the point and want to straighten up. But these men and women realize once they get in prison that the same gangs that were on the outside are even more in tune on the inside. The oath of blood in, blood out is very much alive in every gang ranging from the Aryan Brotherhood to Neta. That means once you are in there is no getting out unless you die or get killed.

The main gangs in prison systems are usually the most well run. They have the biggest gathering and often are the most organized. Gangs control certain things whether it be money, trading of certain materials, control over cafeterias, control over certain cell blocks, etc. The original gangs that do this the best and are the most feared are the Aryan Brotherhood (founded in 1967 in San Quentin), the Black Guerilla Family (formed in 1966 by former Black Panther George Jackson), the La Nuestra Familia (formed in the mid 60's in Soledad prisons), the Mexican Mafia (originally a street gang that started in the 50's), the Texas Syndicate (started in early 70's), and the Neta Association (1979). While all of these gangs have disputes with each other in some way or another, they do have a mutual respect that involves not interfering with certain things. For example the Aryan Brotherhood and Black Guerilla Family are main rivals but there are cases in which the Aryans will give moral support to black groups in an effort to influence prison disturbances. This shows that they have an understanding on a certain basis and that if needed they could and would work together. In "Oz" this was evidenced many times. I guess this ultimately shows that these men in gangs are binded by one thing, being criminals. Nothing more, nothing less.

Just like street gangs, the ones in prison are responsible for most of the violence and organized crime that occurs. They run things their way and do not care what happens, as long as they gain respect and become more feared through reputation. Back in 1995 a state-wide assessment of Florida showed that approximately 304 gangs with more than 10,000 members were active in the state alone. This statistic is jawdropping because alothough Florida is one of the bigger states in the country, it does not speak for all of the other 49 states that have a high number of criminals/gang members. The other part of this equation that is stunning is that this number has most likely doubled since the time of this assessment. While the main gangs already mentioned have the biggest gathering, the other not so big gangs can make a dent as well.


"Gangs and Security Threat Group Awareness." Florida Department of Corrections 21 May 2008 21 May 2008 .

Robert, Walker. "Gangs or Us." Gangs or Us 21 May 2008 21 May 2008 .