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A NATIONAL ASSESSMENT OF GANGS AND

SECURITY THREAT GROUPS (STGs)

IN ADULT CORRECTIONAL INSTITUTIONS:

RESULTS OF THE

1995 ADULT CORRECTIONS SURVEY

A Special Report of:

The National Gang Crime Research Center

George W. Knox, Ph.D.

Executive Summary of Findings

This report provides the preliminary results from the 1995 Adult Corrections Survey. This National Gang Crime Research Center (NGCRC) has conducted this research annually since 1991. About 1,000 administrators of adult state correctional institutions in the United States were mailed the questionnaire in Fall, 1995. Some N = 323 responded from all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Thus, about a third of all adult state correctional facilities in the U.S. are represented in the sample data analyzed here.

Characteristics of the Correctional Institutions Surveyed:

Only a fourth indicated their state agency is based on decentralized management.

Inmate racial breakdowns showed national means of 43.5 percent white, 45.3 percent Black, 9.7 percent Hispanic, and 5.0 percent other in this sample.

The percentage of inmates believed to be mentally ill showed a national average of 7.6 percent.

Half of the institutions use "unit management".

The inmate population counts at the institutions totalled N = 240,724 in this national sample, about 5 percent of whom were females.

Half of the institutions were minimum security, a fourth medium, and a fourth maximum.

The physical plants at these institutions were constructed as early as 1836 and as recently as 1995.

A total of N = 71,270 full-time personnel were employed in the institutions in this sample.

Half of the facilities did report a problem with overcrowding.

About half of the institutions were community based.

Most of the inmates in the institutions surveyed here were males which corresponds to the census data rather closely.

Most of the institutions did not employ a full-time staff person in the role of an inmate ombudsman.

Other Issues in Corrections

About a fifth of the institutions reported a hostage situation involving inmates since 1969; a fourth of the hostage situations occurred on or after 1992. The average last hostage situation was 1985.

Half report racial conflicts are a problem among their inmates.

Just over a third reported racial disturbances in their facilities during the last year.

Most correctional administrators do not feel public funding should be used to pay for inmate college courses.

Two-thirds felt that chain gangs should be brought back in their states.

Almost all of the wardens felt that public notice should be given upon the release of a sex offender.

A third report using programs designed to improve race relations among inmates.

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Executive Summary of Findings: Continued

Two-fifths had staff members testing positive for the PPD (tuberculosis) test during the last year.

Half of the facilities isolate inmates testing positive for the PPD test.

Just over half of the wardens did not think it would be a good policy to eliminate weight lifting for inmates.

A fifth reported their last riot during the first 10 months of 1995.

Three-fourths of these facilities report most of their staff have received training in cultural diversity.

Over three-fourths believe the Supreme Court has gone too far on ruling in favor of inmate rights.

Half of the correctional facilities have had inmates diagnosed with tuberculosis in the last year.

An average of 3.8 life-threatening assaults occurred among inmates in the typical institution in this study during the last one year period.

Two-thirds believe it is possible to reduce racial conflicts among inmates. This factor is shown to be important in other ways.

The mean recidivism rate was 39.1 percent.

Almost all did not view gang members as more likely to file suits when compared to non-gang member inmates.

How Serious The Gang Problem is in American Corrections

Gang density varied widely, with the overall national mean being 20.5 percent for males and 3.1 percent for female inmates.

Some 18.7 percent of the institutions report gang members have been a problem in terms of assaults on staff; another 37.2 percent report gang members as a problem in terms of threats against staff.

Similarly, half of the institutions report that white inmates typically have a separate gang. White gangs vary considerably, but overall the Aryan Brotherhood is still the largest and most prolific.

A fourth of the prison wardens believed that gang leaders are able to influence politicians in their state.

Three-fourths of the wardens agreed that bargaining with inmate gang leaders was like trying to negotiate with terrorists.

The largest gangs represented in this national sample included: Crip sets (15.4%), Black Gangster Disciples (13.9%), Bloods/Piru sets (11.7%), Vice Lords (7.1%), Aryan Brotherhood (6.8%), and Latin Kings (4.5%).

Over half (60.7%) first recognized their gang problem on or after 1990! The mean year for the onset of gangs was in mid-1988.

Drugs, gambling, protection, and extortion are inmate "rackets" operated or controlled by gangs in half or more of all facilities surveyed.

Asked about the largest amount of cash seized from gang members in their custody during the last year, the results ranged from $5 to $9,500; with a mean of $463 dollars.

- iii -

Executive Summary of Findings: Continued

Fourth-fifths believed that gang members develop stronger ties to their gang after serving time in prison.

A third reported gang disturbances in their facilities during the last year.

Half reported that prison gangs result in more improvised weapons production among inmates.

Most reported the gangs or STGs in their facilities also exist by the same name in the outside community.

An average of 17.2 percent of institutional management problems were felt to be caused by gang/STG members; while an average of 22.1 percent of all inmate violence was believed to be caused by gangs.

Half of the institutions report that gangs have significantly affected their correctional environments.

Gangs and gang members were said to be responsible for an average of 32.6 percent of all drugs smuggled into these correctional institutions. Further, gangs dominated an average of 35 percent of the illegal drug trade behind bars.

Gangs were said to be responsible for an average of 24.0 percent of all inmate-against-inmate assaults.

Nearly all of the wardens do not think that prisons are feared and a deterrent to gang members.

A fourth believed a gang density rate of six percent was a severe problem. But the mean or average gang density threshold nationally was 16.3 percent before it could be considered "severe".

Four-fifths of the administrators thought that gang members have a higher recidivism rate.

Having racial conflict increases the probability of gang disturbances.

Nine out of ten wardens expect the gang problem in corrections to increase in the next few years. In fact 85 percent expect inmate gang violence to increase in the next few years.

Responses to the Gang Problem in Adult State Corrections

Over half of adult correctional facilities have specific disciplinary rules that prohibit gang recruitment.

Over half believe that "no human contact" status is effective for the control of gang members.

Two-fifths believe gangs could be more effectively controlled if gang members could be transferred to a central-national federal unit of correctional supervision.

Three-fifths of the facilities do now provide gang training to their staff.

Most felt that federal agencies should play a greater role in the investigation and prosecution of gang crimes.

Three-fifths of the institutions take gang membership into account in their inmate classification system.

Few indicated their state has separate facilities for confidential informants.

Very few reported any pressure from state officials to "play down" gang activity.

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Executive Summary of Findings: Continued

Few administrators report their staff sometimes negotiate with gang members to keep the peace. But those same wardens were more than twice as likely to report gang disturbances in the last year as well.

Most believed that tougher laws are needed to control the gang problem behind bars.

Half believed that a program designed to improve race relations could reduce the gang problem as well.

Four-fifths agreed that telephone and mail monitoring are effective in preventing gang leaders from maintaining their ties to outside gang members.

Two-fifths of the administrators thought that tuition support for staff could help in dealing with the gang problem.

The most popular strategies to control gangs behind bars include: transfers, case-by-case dealings, monitor and track gang members, monitor mail, segregation, and displacing members to different facilities.

Nine out of ten of the respondents did not feel that the federal Department of Justice has provided effective leadership in suppressing the gang problem in American cities.

The vast majority do believe that a zero-tolerance policy is the best approach for dealing with gangs and gang members.

About a fourth of the facilities did have staff involved in local gang investigator associations.

Additional Research and Analysis Now Underway

Additional analysis is currently underway on the issues discussed in this report. A full session of the Annual Meeting at the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences (1996, March, Las Vegas) is now scheduled for discussing these issues of dealing with the gang problem in corrections today. Additional findings are expected to be released at that time.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page(s)

Introduction.......................................... 1 - 2

Research Methodology.................................. 2

Descriptive Findings.................................. 2 - 3

Over Half Have Disciplinary Rules Prohibiting

Gang Recruitment in their Institutions............. 3

Over Three-Fourths Believe the Supreme Court has

Gone Too Far on Ruling in Favor of Inmate Rights... 3

A Fourth of the Institutions Report Their State

Agency is Based on Decentralized Management........ 3

Over Half Believe "No Human Contact Status" is

Effective in Controlling Gang Members.............. 3

Two-Fifths Believe Gangs Could Be More Effectively

Controlled if Gang Members Could Be Transferred

to a Central-National Federal Unit................. 4

Gang Density: Percentage of Inmates Who Are

Gang Members....................................... 4

Three-Fifths of the Institutions Now Provide Gang

Training to Their Staff............................ 4 - 5

The Problem of Gang Members Assaulting

Correctional Staff................................. 5

The Problem of Gang Members Threatening

Correctional Staff................................. 5

A Half of the Correctional Institutions Report

Racial Conflicts Are A Problem Among the

Offenders in Their Facilities...................... 5

Half of the Correctional Institutions Now Report

That White Inmates Have A Separate Gang............ 6

The White Gangs In American Prisons Today............. 6

Inmate Racial Breakdown............................... 6

Today Three-Fourths of Prison Wardens Believe That

An Administrator Who Tries To Bargain With An

Inmate Gang Leader is Similar To Trying To

Negotiate With A Terrorist........................ 7

The Growing Political Influence of Gangs:

Nearly A Fourth of Prison Wardens Feel That

Gangs or Gang Leaders Are Able to Influence

Politicians in Their State........................ 7 -8

The Largest Gangs Represented Among Inmates in

American Corrections Today........................ 8

In What Year Gangs Were First Recognized As Being

A Problem In American Adult Corrections........... 8 - 10

Nine Out of Ten Do Not Believe The Government

Should Pay The Costs for Adult Inmates Enrolled

in College Courses................................. 10

Four Out of Five Believe Federal Agencies Should

Play A Greater Role in the Investigation and

Prosecution of Gang Crimes....................... 10

Two-Thirds of the Correctional Institutions

Responding to the Survey Thought That Chain Gangs

Should Be Reinstated in Their Own State System.... 10

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TABLE OF CONTENTS: Continued

Page(s)

The Types of Economic "Rackets" Gangs Operate or

Control in Adult State Correctional Institutions.. 10-11 United States Currency Seized From Gang Inmates

During the Last One Year Period................... 11-12

Four Fifths Report The Hardening Effect: Penal

Sanctions Increasing Gang Ties.................... 12

Universal Support Among Prison Wardens In America:

Public Notice Should Be Given Upon the Release

of a Sex Offender................................. 12

A Third Report Their Facilities Have Programs

Designed to Improve Race Relations Among Inmates... 13

What The Chi-Square Significance Test Means........... 13

Few States Have Separate Facilities For

Confidential Informants............................ 14

Recidivism Rates...................................... 14

Vast Majority Support "Truth in Sentencing" Laws...... 14-15

Percentage of Inmates Who Are Mentally Ill............ 15

Very Few Report Any Pressure From State Officials

to "Play Down" Gang Activity...................... 15

Just Over a Third of All Correctional Facilities

Report Disturbances Related to Gang Members in

their Facilities During the Last Year............. 15

Just Over a Third of All Correctional Facilities

Report Disturbances Related to Racial Conflict

in their Facilities During the Last Year.......... 15

The Strong Relationship Between Racial Disturbances

and Gang Disturbances in Correctional Institutions. 15-16

Few Report That Their Staff Sometimes Find it Necessary

to Negotiate With Gang Members to Keep the Peace.. 16

An Empirical Test: Does Negotiating With Gang Members

Lower the Risk of Gang Disturbances?.............. 17-18

Hostage Situations Involving Inmates and Staff........ 18

Three Fourths of Adult State Correctional Institutions

Report That Most of Their Staff and Employees Have

Received Training in Cultural Diversity........... 18

Date of Last Major Inmate Riot In Their State System.. 18-19

Two-Fifths Report Staff Members In Their Facility

Testing Positive for the PPD (Tuberculosis) Test

in the Last Year.................................. 19

Half of the Institutions Isolate Inmates Testing

Positive for the PPD Test......................... 19

A Fourth Would Regard A Gang Density Rate of Six

Percent as A Severe Problem....................... 19

The Gang Density Threshold for Having a Severe

Gang Problem...................................... 19-20

Most Security Threat Groups or Gangs Behind Bars Also

Exist By the Same Name Outside of Prison.......... 20

About Half Believe Prison Gangs Have Tended To Result

in More Improvised Weapons Production Among Inmates. 20

Four-Fifths Agree: We Need Tougher Laws to Control the

Gang Problem in Prison............................ 20

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TABLE OF CONTENTS: Continued

Page(s)

Half Believe A Program to Improve Race Relations Could

Reduce the Gang Violence or STG Problem as Well... 20-21

The Percentage of All Institutional Management

Problems Caused By Gangs or STGs.................. 21

The Percentage of All Inmate Violence Caused by Gangs

or Gang Members................................... 21

The Debate About Weight Lifting For Inmates:

Two-fifths Say Eliminate It....................... 21

Four-Fifths Agree: Telephone Monitoring Is Effective

in Disabling Gang Leaders From Maintaining Ties

to Outside Gang Members........................... 21

Four-Fifths Agree: Mail Monitoring Also Impairs Gang

Leaders From Maintaining Ties to Outside Members.. 21-22

The Vast Majority of Prison Wardens Do Not Think that

Prisons are Feared and a Deterrent to Gang Members. 22

Two-Thirds Believe It Is Possible to Reduce Racial

Conflicts Among Inmates........................... 22

The Greater The Belief That Racial Conflicts Can Be

Reduced Among Inmates, The More That Race

Relations Improvement Is Believed To Be A Way

To Reduce The Gang Problem........................ 22-23

Half of the Correctional Facilities Report Having

Had Inmates Diagnosed With Tuberculosis During

The Last Year..................................... 23

Over Half Report Their Facility Uses Unit Management.. 23-24

Inmate Population Count............................... 24

Security Levels of the Institutions................... 24

Two-Fifths Believe Providing Tuition Support for

Staff Could Help Deal With The Gang Problem....... 24

The Year The Facility's Were First Constructed........ 24

Few Institutions Have Full-Time Staff Employed

as Ombudsmen for Inmates.......................... 24-25

Four-Fifths Believe Gang Members Gang Members

Have a Higher Recidivism Rate..................... 25

Three-Fifths Take Gang Membership Into Account

in Their Classification System for Inmates........ 25

Strategies Currently Used to Control Gang Members

Behind Bars....................................... 25-26

Half Report Gangs Have Significantly Affected

Their Correctional Environments................... 26-27

Number of Full-Time Personnel Employed

in the Facilities................................. 27

Nine Out of Ten Do Not Feel The Federal Department

of Justice Has Provided Effective Leadership in

Suppressing the Gang Problem in American Cities... 27

Gang Involvement in Smuggling Drugs Into

Correctional Facilities........................... 27

Gang Involvement in Drug Sales Within The Inmate

Underground Economy............................... 27

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TABLE OF CONTENTS: Continued

Page(s)

Half Report That Overcrowding is a Problem in

their Facility.................................... 27

Life-Threatening Violence Among Inmates

in the Last Year.................................. 27-28

Most Correctional Administrators Feel a

Zero Tolerance Approach to Gangs is Best.......... 28

Inmate-Against-Inmate Assaults: Degree of

Gang Involvement.................................. 28

Just Over a Fourth Have Staff Who Belong to

State or Regional Gang Investigator Associations... 28

Gang Members Do Not File More Law Suits Than Do

Non-Gang Member Inmates........................... 28

About Half of the Institutions Indicate they are

Community-Based................................... 28

Types of Correctional Institutions in the Study....... 28-29

Nine Out of Ten Wardens Expect The Gang Problem

in Corrections to Increase in the Next Few Years.. 29

Eighty Five Percent of the Wardens Expect Inmate

Gang Violence To Increase in the Next Few Years.. 29

Zip Code Analysis..................................... 29

Ninety Percent Authorized The Use of Zip Code or

Geographical Identifier of the Responding

Agency in the Analysis and Reporting of Results... 29

Almost All Wanted A Copy of the Full Free Report...... 30

State-by-State Variations in Certain Patterns

Found in the Present Research..................... 30

Summary, Conclusions, and Recommendations............. 30-31

Bibliography.......................................... 32

Appendix A: State By State Listings of 15 Variables.. 33-36

- ix -

PRELIMINARY RESULTS FROM THE 1995 ADULT CORRECTIONS SURVEY

INTRODUCTION

The gang problem has proliferated so much in recent years that three-fourths of all American cities, regardless of size, are now reporting some level of a gang presence or involvement in criminal code violation in the same jurisdictions. The penal system is, as everyone knows, a filtering process that generally takes in as its "input" those individuals who have been found to be, in many cases, a genuine threat to public safety. All states report some level of a gang or security threat group (STG) problem in their correctional system today is the current situation the United States faces. It is not a matter of whether there is or is not a gang problem, the issue is just how serious is the gang problem in American corrections today? Answering that question is the substance of this report.

Both a qualitative and quantitative type of social change has taken place in the basic crime pattern of American society as well. This has to do with the extent to which gang members account for an increased amount of all crime in society. Correctional environments are the social contexts having the highest gang density rates today. Researchers from the NGCRC in their regular and ongoing on-site interviews of thousands of individual gang members throughout the United States have yet to find any correctional environment that does not have any gang member incarcerated therein. It is not uncommon to find correctional environments that contain gang members that were not known as gang members to the officials administering these same facilities or even to the gang intelligence officers working in these same facilities.

Knowledge about gangs in corrections is very limited. In fact, the only federally funded research recently conducted on gangs in corrections is itself very suspect, the reasons for which will be made abundantly clear. The most recent federally funded research report on gangs in corrections missed the boat entirely on the single most important issue (i.e., gang density) and was not able to obtain the cooperation of all states in its particular research strategy which used an over-aggregated unit of analysis. That research funded by the National Institute of Justice (NIJ) concluded that only 6 percent of our Nation's adult inmate population were gang members. A national gang density parameter of six percent in the adult state correctional population is misinformation would be the conclusion from the present research which did in fact have data from all 50 states. The present research would suggest it is more than three times that estimate!

The National Gang Crime Research Center (NGCRC) is the only organization in the world today that has continuously monitored, on a yearly basis consistently for five years since 1991, the gang problem in American adult state correctional institutions. No federal funding or assistance of any kind was made available for this research and service. The only RFP that was issued on assessing the gang problem in corrections was bid on by the NGCRC, however our proposal was rejected by NIJ for being too scientific. The annual gang assessments conducted by the NGCRC since 1991 is not only research, because the service component was built in from the very start: educating correctional administrators in a timely fashion about the "state-of-the-art" regarding gangs and corrections. Unlike most federal research projects that often take two years to be able to disseminate findings, at which point their usefulness may have been completely lost in terms of practical application due to an escalation in the nature of the problem being studied itself, the NGCRC has been able over the years to rapidly provide full non-technical feedback to all of its respondents requesting a complete copy of the research results. Thus, the respondents are not sent an executive summary only, they are provided with the full report. And they receive the report typically two months later, not two years later. The reason is simple: this kind of research is not a major analytical effort because it represents a very fixed and easily identified universe.

The 1994 Adult Corrections Survey report tended to show that the way in which researchers have tried to explain and analyze the "gang problem" in American corrections is substantially removed from reality. In otherwords, it is not sufficient to simply ask a summative evaluation question such as "DO YOU HAVE A GANG PROBLEM IN YOUR FACILITY". The reason is that a researcher must be able to measure the definitional components of what makes up a gang problem. As shown in the 1994 report, if we examine the "components" of what makes up a gang problem in adult corrections, then almost everyone has some aspect of the problem. The only issue is the variation: some clearly have a greater problem than others.

This 1995 report extends our knowledge of the gang problem further and suggests some directions of change for policy makers.

This report also helps to build genuine understanding and consensus about the gang problem in the United States.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

The research strategy for this study was to mail out questionnaires to every known state adult correctional institution. It is the individual state adult facility that is therefore the unit of analysis in this study. This study therefore does not deal with juvenile correctional institutions or federal correctional institutions.

The sampling strategy was that of saturation: approximately 1,000 such institutions were identified and mail survey packages were created for all of these facilities. The package contained a cover letter, a copy of the survey instrument, and a prepaid return envelope.

The surveys were mailed out on October 2, 1995. By mid-November, 1995 some N = 292 of the facilities had responded to this survey project, representing 49 States and the District of Columbia. Only one state --- New York --- provided no responses to this survey from wardens or superintendents as of mid-November, 1995. New York was not represented in the 1994 survey as well, and to overcome this problem of suppressed research responses from central administration, a contingency plan was devised for the 1995 survey. It meant identifying other key respondents in the same institutions other than the warden or superintendent. These other leaders among the correctional staff were identified in four states in preparation for the contingency plan, but only needed to be used in New York. A shortened version of the survey was used for the secondary officials who were known to have a high level of knowledge about inmate problems and the issues represented by line correctional officers. The shortened version of the survey addressed primary gang issues that were considered important for interstate comparisons. The contingency plan meant sending out the shortened version of the survey to the union stewards in mid-November, 1995. The contingency plan worked very well for New York, resulting in a high response rate, thus all 50 states and the District of Columbia are represented in the survey. By the way, what this revealed about New York state correctional facilities is that they have a large gang problem equivalent to that of Illinois and California in terms of gang density.

The contingency plan for obtaining data from other than the warden or superintendent was necessary because in some states (California, Virginia, Illinois, and New York) central organizations at the state level often try to suppress the ability of their institutions to respond to surveys. The respondents are public officials in this research. Therefore if a state did not respond after we contacted each of the institutional administrators, then a plan was developed to obtain the same information from other key observers in the same facilities (i.e., the correctional officers union steward). The correctional officer union steward is an ideal source of information about the same correctional institution. However, our full contingency plan did identify others in the same facilities who could also provide valid information. When we informed the union stewards in New York that their administrators had been instructed not to respond to our surveys (this happened in Virginia and elsewhere, but some of the wardens responded anyway after a second survey was mailed out), and we promised the same informational feedback to the union stewards that the warden would typically receive, the response rate from the union stewards was very strong.

By mid-December 1995 some N = 323 adult state correctional institutions had responded to the survey. This sample of N = 323 includes all 50 states and is therefore the first such analysis to reach this complete representation. The sample developed in this 1995 survey therefore includes about a third of all adult state correctional facilities in the United States.

GOALS OF THE ANALYSIS REPORTED HERE

This is a preliminary report of the research on gangs in corrections. The primary purpose is to provide a full descriptive analysis of the data and examine some trends in the data. Each of the respondents who requested a copy of the preliminary report is being provided with a complimentary copy of this journal as well. This fulfills a promise made to the respondents to be able to provide feedback and results in a relatively short time period.

There are some additional types of analysis that will be undertaken on this data that because of the lack of space cannot be reported here. However, those interested can expect to find further information in the full paper session on "Gang Problems in the American Prison System" at the Annual Meeting of the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences to be held in Las Vegas, Nevada in March of 1995.

FINDINGS

In presenting the descriptive statistical findings from this 1995 survey, the procedure is straight-forward by discussing the results in terms of the same item order as that found in the survey instrument itself. It should be noted that as in all survey research the total number of responses for any given item may in some cases be less than that of the total survey sample (N = 323). Overall, missing data was not a major problem, it is simply common for some respondents to not answer all of the many questions in the questionnaire. This will account for the fact that not all of the variables always have a total of N = 323 respondents which was our sample size.

Over Half of Adult Correctional Facilities Have Specific Disciplinary Rules That Prohibit Gang Recruitment

The survey asked "does your facility have specific disciplinary rules that prohibit gang recruitment". Some 59 percent (N = 187) indicated that their adult correctional facilities do in fact have such disciplinary rules that prohibit gang recruitment. Thus, 41 percent (N = 130) of the institutions responding to the 1995 Adult Corrections Survey reported that their facility did not have specific disciplinary rules that prohibit gang recruitment.

Over Three-Fourths Believe the Supreme Court has Gone Too Far on Ruling in Favor of Inmate Rights

The survey asked "do you believe the Supreme Court has gone too far on ruling in favor of inmate rights". Some 85.1 percent (N = 263) of the respondents did believe that the Supreme Court has gone too far on ruling in favor of inmate rights. Only 14.9 percent (N = 46) of the responding correctional administrators did not believe that the Supreme Court has gone too far on ruling in favor of inmate rights.

Only A Fourth of the Responding Correctional Facilities Indicated Their State Agency is Based on Decentralized Management

The survey asked "which best describes your state agency: ___Centralized management ___Decentralized management". Some 71.9 percent (N = 215) of the responding agencies indicated that the state agency or parent organization is based on centralized management. About a fourth (28.1%, N = 84) did, however, report that their state agency is oriented towards decentralized management. This is a measure of correctional organizational style. The results suggest most adult state correctional institutions are still based on centralized management.

Over Half Believe That "No Human Contact" Status Is Not Effective For the Control of Gang Members

The survey asked "do you believe no human contact status is effective for the control of gang members". Some 40.2 percent (N = 125) of the respondents indicated that they do in fact believe no human contact status is effective for the control of gang members. Still, there is not complete consensus, and perhaps this could vary by other factors (i.e., institutional security level, institutional type, gang density, etc). Because over half (59.8%, N = 186) did not believe that no human contact status is effective for the control of gang members.

Two-Fifths Believe Gangs Could Be More Effectively Controlled if Gang Members Could Be Transferred to a Central-National Federal Unit

The survey asked "do you believe gangs could be more effectively controlled if gang members could be transferred to a central-national federal unit". Two-fifths (41.3%, N = 123) of the respondents indicated that they did believe that gang could be more effectively controlled if gang members could be sent to a central-national federal unit of correctional supervision. Some 58.7 percent (N = 175) did not believe that gang members could be more effectively controlled by transferring them to a central national style of correctional control.

Gang Density: Percentage of Inmates Who Are Gang Members

Gang density refers to the percentage of inmates in any given facility who are gang members. One of the most important findings from the present research is that it is very rare for any of the adult state correctional institutions holding male inmates to report that they have no gang members at all confined in their facility. Only 7.4 percent of the male institutions reported a gang density of zero percent. The gang density variable was measured by the question "among staff who know about gang members, what is the current estimate of what percentage gang members are of the total inmate population". Separate estimates were obtained for male and female inmate populations.

The gang density for male institutions ranged from a low of zero percent (7.4%, N = 20) to a high of 100 percent. The mean, or average, was 20.5 percent for the male inmates at a national level.

While the gang problem is felt more prominently in male correctional institutions, it is also clear that the gang problem has now converged on female correctional institutions. The gang density estimates for female correctional institutions ranged from a low of zero percent to a high of 50 percent. The mean, or arithmetic average, for gang density was 3.1 percent for female inmates at a national level.

Our survey data reflects about a third of all adult correctional institutions in the United States today from all states. It is useful to look at the estimated gang population computed arithmetically by multiplying gang density by the more exact inmate populations for each responding institution. This analysis showed a total of N = 47,220 male gang members in just a third of the correctional institutions in the United States! We do not need to add the known female gang members to make the point here. The ACA report (1993) based its national estimate of a six percent gang density parameter on the fact that only N = 43,756 gang members were found in the way it conducted its survey.

Recall that our sample includes only a third of the total overall universe of adult state correctional institutions in the United States. Thus, our sample of just a third of the American adult correctional institutions yielded a greater number of estimated gang members than the ACA estimated to exist in the entire adult correctional system!

Just Over Half of the Institutions Now Provide Gang Training to Their Staff

The survey asked "do your staff receive formalized training in dealing with the gang problem". Some 58.0 percent (N = 184) indicated that their correctional staff do in fact now receive such gang training. Still, two-fifths (42.0%, N = 133) of the correctional facilities survey indicated that their staff do not receive gang training. Obviously, there is a lag in staff training here that begs for more correctional resources. In otherwords, more institutions report a gang problem than do those do provide their staff with training in how to deal with gang members behind bars.

A separate follow-up question measuring the intensity of the gang training available to correctional staff asked "if yes, how many hours is the gang training session". Here the results ranged from a low of 1 hour to a high of (in one instance) 132 hours. We suspect the one case of an institution providing 132 hours of gang training was a true exception to the rule, and may account for one gang coordinator's account of the amount of training he has received. Most of the respondents who provided gang training (88.8%) reported that the gang training amounts to ten hours or less or such training. Some 24.1 percent provided 2 hours of training. Some 22.4 percent provided 4 hours of training. And some 22.9 percent provided 8 hours of training. So viewed in this way, some 87.1 percent of the correctional staff receiving gang training in the United States actually get 8 hours or less of formalized gang training. That is, in most cases, it is one day or less of gang training. The mean amount of gang training nationally was 7.5 hours.

Another separate follow-up question measured the scope of the gang training available to correctional staff and asked "how many of your staff members have been trained". The results show that a total of N = ????? correctional staff did receive some type of gang training.

The Problem of Gang Members Assaulting Correctional Staff

The survey asked "have gang members been a problem in terms of assaults on your staff". About a sixth of all adult state correctional institutions in this large national sample (18.7%, N = 59) now report that gang members have been a problem in terms of assaults on correctional staff. Most (81.3%, N = 256) of the respondents indicated that gang members have not been a problem in terms of assaults on their staff.

The Problem of Gang Members Threatening Correctional Staff

A follow-up question on gang members assaulting correctional staff asked whether gang members had been a problem in terms of threats on correctional staff. Over a third of all adult state correctional institutions in the sample (37.2%, N = 113) now report that gang members have been a problem in terms of threats against correctional staff. About two-thirds (62.8%, N = 191) indicated that gang members have not been a problem in terms of threats against correctional staff.

A Half of the Correctional Institutions Report Racial Conflicts Are A Problem Among the Offenders in Their Facilities

This question, like some others, is a replication of the same measure from previous yearly surveys. This problem has existed for quite some time and remains relatively stable. The specific question in the survey asked "are racial conflicts a problem among the offenders in your facility". Some 55.1 percent (N = 173) of the respondents indicated that racial conflicts are a problem among the inmate population. Similarly, the other half (44.9%, N = 141) indicated that racial conflicts are not a problem among the inmates.

Half of the Correctional Institutions Now Report That White Inmates Have A Separate Gang in Their Facilities

The survey asked "do white inmates have a separate gang". Some 57.9 percent (N = 176) of the respondents indicated that the white inmates in their facility do in fact have a separate gang. Still some 42.1 percent (N = 128) did not report that white inmates have a separate gang. What this is really measuring is the widespread nature of white inmate gangs in adult American correctional institutions today. We would hypothesize this factor to vary by other factors of institutional classification (security level, a problem of racial conflicts among inmates in the institution, etc).

The White Gangs In American Prisons Today

A follow-up question was designed for those adult state correctional institutions that did report their white inmates to have a separate gang. It simply asked the respondent to write-in the name of the gang in an open-ended format. While a wide assortment of white gangs exist behind bars today, it is clearly the Aryan Brotherhood that is the most frequently cited white gang. Other groups include: Aryan Nation, Aryan Warriors, Aryan Society, White Aryan Resistance, Ku Klux Klan, Neo-Nazis, Bikers (several factions: Prison Motorcycle Brotherhood, Outlaws, etc), Peckerwoods, Brothers of the White Struggle (B.O.W.S.), Northsiders (Illinois prison system), Simon City Royals (midwest gang), Texas Mafia, White Gangster Disciples, White Supremacists, Young and Wasted, other local gangs and STGs, as well as various religious-identity extremist groups (Church of Jesus Christ Christian, etc). From other sources (National Gangs Resource Handbook, 1995, Wyndham Hall Press, 52857 County Road 21, Bristol, Indiana 46507) we now know that white gangs like the Aryan Brotherhood are to be found in almost all states today, and they are not a gang that is limited to the adult correctional context.

Inmate Racial Breakdown

The survey asked the respondents to estimate what percentage of the inmates in their facility were white, Black, Hispanic, and Other. For the white inmate population the estimated density ranged from a low of one percent to a high of 98 percent, with a mean or average of 43.5 percent. Black inmates were the single largest racial group represented in the adult state correctional institutions in this sample. The results for all racial groups are provided in Table 1.

Table 1

Inmate Racial Density Estimates in a Large

National Sample of Adult State Correctional Institutions

RANGE Average or

Low High Mean Value

White Inmates 1 98 43.5

Black Inmates 0 98 45.3

Hispanic Inmates 0 60 9.7

Other Races 0 80 5.0

As an external check against the validity of the present findings, in terms of the degree to which this national sample corresponds to existing external population parameters, it is well known that Black or African-American inmates are in fact now highly represented inside the confined population. This is also the matter of DPM, or the concept of disproportionate minority confinement, which means that minorities are represented in the confined population at a higher rate than their overall proportion society-wide.

Today Three-Fourths of Prison Wardens Believe That An Administrator Who Tries To Bargain With An Inmate Gang Leader is Similar To Trying To Negotiate With A Terrorist

We have seen this factor become more salient over the years, because some of the early work about gangs and corrections made the mistake of viewing gang leaders as a potential source of stabilization that could be coopted. A criminal gang cannot be coopted without enormous additional risk, and any benefits are likely to be short term for said administrator, and such a policy is bound to backfire in the long run.

So this is another replication item, a factor we have measured over the years. The survey asked the administrators "in your opinion, would an administrator who tries to bargain with an inmate gang leader be similar to negotiating with terrorists". Some 75.4 percent (N = 236) of the prison wardens agreed that an administrator who tries to bargain with an inmate gang leader is basically equivalent to trying to negotiate with a terrorist: it is a bad idea. This factor of staff recognition for gangs has varied and is now closing in on a more zero tolerance policy in adult state correctional institutions. In 1994's survey some 72.4 percent felt this analogy was true. In 1993 it was 59.3 percent. In 1992 it was 54 percent. Obviously, there is growing recognition that gangs cannot be easily coopted when a correctional administrator tries to bargain with a gang leader for prison safety.

The Growing Political Influence of Gangs: Nearly A Fourth of Prison Wardens Feel That Gangs or Gang Leaders Are Able to Influence Politicians in Their State

This is really an issue of political corruption or at the least a high level of naivete on the part of some elected officials prone to be gang apologists or easily manipulated by a gang. However, as demonstrated recently in the Journal of Gang Research ("Gang Profile: The Gangster Disciples", 1995, Fall Issue, Volume 3, Number 1, pp. 58-76), some midwest gangs like the Gangster Disciples have not only been able to slate their own candidates for local office, but have been able to have state elected officials try to change legislation for them, and have even shown up at large scale gang picnics. This is not a problem that affects only corrections, obviously. In fact, two recent large scale law enforcement studies, one examining gangs in Georgia (Project GEORGIA95) and one examining gangs in Wisconsin (Project WISCONSIN95), also showed that the problem of political corruption is linked in some municipalities to adverse gang influence, and it appears to be a growing problem.

The survey asked "do you feel that gangs or gang leaders are able to influence politicians in your state". The results show that 23.6 percent (N = 74) of the respondents felt that gangs or gang leaders are able to influence the politicians in their state. Three-fourths (76.4%, N = 239) did not feel that gangs or gang leaders have political influence in their state.

We examined this variable more closely by selecting the subsample who did feel that gangs do exert political influence in their state. Examining the distribution of actual geographical locations showed that 32 of the 50 states have one or more respondents who now report that gangs or gang leaders re able to influence politicians in their state. It is truly a nationwide problem and not a problem limited to areas like Illinois.

The Largest Gangs Represented Among Inmates in American Corrections Today

The survey asked "what are the names of the top three largest gangs that are represented among inmates in your facility". Three blank lines were provided for this open-ended question series. By creating a name index file that would include up to three observations for each respondent, the names of the largest gangs were then possible to analyze. The way to interpret these results, therefore, is that any gang that shows up in this list is being cited as a gang among the top three largest gangs in any given adult state correctional institution in the United States.

A vary long list of gang names emerged in this manner. We can summarize these by looking at a few of the largest gangs represented among inmates in American corrections today. Table 2 presents these summary results about the largest gangs in adult corrections today .

TABLE 2

Gangs Most Frequently Cited as Being Among the

Top Three Gangs in American Correctional Institutions

Rank Ordered (Percentage)

Name of the Gang %

Crips (various factions) 15.4

Black Gangster Disciples 13.9

Bloods/Piru factions 1.7

Vice Lord factions 7.1

Aryan Brotherhood 6.8

Latin King factions 4.5

As seen in Table 2, Crips appear to have the edge, being cited by 15.4 percent of the adult state correctional institutions in this sample. They are closely followed by Black Gangster Disciples (13.9%), Blood/Piru sets (11.7%), Vice Lords (7.1%), Aryan Brotherhood (6.8%), and the Latin Kings (4.5%). The significance of this finding relates to the scope and extent of the same gang being represented throughout the American correctional system.

In What Year Gangs Were First Recognized As Being A Problem In American Adult Correctional Institutions

The survey asked "in what year did gangs first become recognized as a problem in your facility? 19____". The results showed a range from as early as 1965 to as recently as this year (e.g., 1995). Overall, the mean or average year for pinpointing the gang problem in this sample was 1988.6, meaning the later half of 1988. It is helpful to examine how this gang problem manifested itself over time by referring to Table 3.

The findings in Table 3 are therefore limited to those institutions that do in fact report a gang problem. There are some facilities that do not report a gang problem as having been "recognized" as such. Thus, the year of the emergence of the gang problem behind bars takes on significance only in reference to those facilities that are reporting a gang problem in the first place.

TABLE 3

The Year Gangs Were First Recognized As a Problem

In a Large National Sample of Adult State

Correctional Institutions (N = 232)

Year Gangs First Recognized

As A Problem: N %

1965 - 1980 26 11.2

1981 4 1.7

1982 1 .4

1983 2 .9

1984 6 2.6

1985 11 4.7

1986 6 2.6

1987 5 2.2

1988 12 5.2

1989 21 9.1

1990 33 14.2

1991 16 6.9

1992 19 8.2

1993 35 15.1

1994 24 10.3

1995 11 4.7

****** ******

TOTALS 232 100.0%

As seen in Table 3, prior to 1981 the gang problem existed in only 11.2 percent of the correctional institutions. This began picking up in the 1980's, and in 1989-90 a sharp peak occurred. Only 31.5 percent of the facilities indicated their gang problem was first recognized on or before 1988. Nearly a fourth of American correctional institutions (23.3%) reporting a gang problem therefore indicate that they first recognized this gang problem in their facility during the 1989-1990 period. Another fourth (25.4%) first saw their gang problem in the period 1993-1994. The most important finding from Table 3 is that 59.5 percent of all of the American adult correctional institutions with a gang problem first recognized gangs as a problem in their facility on or after the year 1990! Thus, over half of the institutions first saw their gang problem arise in the 1990's.

One of the most important factors affecting the criminal justice system today is simply not monitored by any national group that has legal responsibility for it: the changing (i.e., increasing) gang density in these same institutions. The principal co-investigators for this study are not aware of any state that does not have a problem with gangs or gang members in its correctional system. The only issue is the matter of gang density, and the scope and extent of the problem per se. Research suggests this is a growing problem, not a problem that is decreasing or disappearing nationally.

Nine Out of Ten Do Not Believe The Government Should Pay The Costs for Adult Inmates Enrolled in College Courses

The survey asked "do you believe that the government should pay the costs for adult inmates enrolled in college courses". Only 10.6 percent (N = 32) of the respondents indicated that they do in fact believe that public monies should be used to subsidize college courses for adult inmates. The vast majority (89.4%, N = 271) did not believe that the government should pay the costs for adult inmates enrolled in college courses.

Four Out of Five Believe Federal Agencies Should Play A Greater Role in the Investigation and Prosecution of Gang Crimes

The survey asked "do you believe federal agencies should play a greater role in the investigation and prosecution of gang crimes". Some 82.5 percent (N = 249) of the responding correctional administrators expressed the belief that federal agencies should in fact play a greater role in the investigation and prosecution of gang crimes. Just under a fifth (17.5%, N = 53) did not feel that federal agencies needed to play a greater role in the investigation and prosecution of gang crimes.

Two-Thirds of the Correctional Institutions Responding to the Survey Thought That Chain Gangs Should Be Reinstated in Their Own State Correctional System

The survey asked "do you think chain gangs (i.e., hard labor crews) should be reinstated in your adult state correctional system". Some 64.8 percent (N = 199) of the respondents felt that chain gangs should in fact be reinstated in their own state correctional system. Among those favoring "bringing back chain gangs" were respondents from 43 different states! Only a third of the respondents (35.2%, N = 108) did not like the idea of bringing back chain gangs in their state correctional system.

The Types of Economic "Rackets" Gangs Operate or Control in Adult State Correctional Institutions

The survey asked "what kind of economic rackets do gangs try to operate or control in your facility". A further instruction asked the respondent to check-off, among the options listed, those that are examples of economic "rackets" that gangs operate or control in their facility. A total of eight different economic "rackets" were separately listed in this check-off procedure. These rackets included: drugs, sex, food, clothing, loan sharking, gambling, extortion, and protection.

Table 4 presents the results of the descriptive statistical analysis for these eight different inmate rackets.

TABLE 4

Frequency and Percentage Distribution of the Types of

Economic Rackets Reporting As Being Operated or

Controlled By Gangs in a Large National

Sample of Adult Correctional Institutions

Do Gangs Control/Operate These

Rackets in Your Institution?

NO YES

Type of Racket N % N %

Drugs 85 27.9 220 72.1

Sex 198 66.7 99 33.3

Food 171 57.2 128 42.8

Clothing 211 71.8 83 28.2

Loan Sharking 158 52.7 142 47.3

Gambling 125 41.4 177 58.6

Extortion 142 47.3 158 52.7

Protection 128 42.1 176 57.9

Table 4 shows that drugs, gambling, protection, and extortion are economic rackets that gangs attempt to operate or control in half or more of all of the adult state correctional facilities in this large national sample. The fact that many gangs engage in such behavior outside of the correctional setting simply means that they have been able to continue, to some unknown extent, this activity behind bars. The penal sanction does not mean we can expect a cessation of such criminal behavior that emanates from the gang as a group or organization is another way of interpreting the findings in Table 4. Where the gang was accustomed to victimizing the neighborhood in which it was located, the gang members behind bars appear to simply continue their behavior with new types of drug customers and new types of victims (i.e., other prison inmates).

United States Currency Seized From Gang Inmates During the Last One Year Period

The survey asked "what was the largest amount of cash seized from gang member inmates during the last one year period". A blank line ($______dollars) was used for this variable. The results showed a range between a low of $5.00 dollars in cash to a high of $9,500.00 in cash being the largest amount of cash seized from gang inmates during the last one year time period. This included cash seizures from 88 different correctional institutions nationwide totalling $40,744 overall. Obviously, much more than this was probably actually seized, as the variable measured not the total amount seized, but rather the single largest amount seized from an inmate gang member during the last one year time period.

The mean or average value of the largest amount of cash seized from a gang member in the last one year time period was $463.00 for this sample. We feel that it would be worthwhile to get a better handle on the scope and extent to which gangs dominate the correctional inmate underground economy, at least in terms of the amounts of money involved nationwide. It does suggest this may be a neglected area in terms of gang investigation and prosecution nationally.

Four Fifths Report The Hardening Effect: Penal Sanctions Increasing Gang Ties

The survey asked "do you believe that gang members generally have a stronger affiliation with their gang after serving time". The hypothesis tested here is what we call the "hardening effect". It is similar, but different from, the hypothesized "conversion reaction" or solidifying effect. Nevertheless, it is a hypothesis consistent with that viewpoint which would argue that some suppression efforts can potentially increase gang solidarity, not decrease it. The variable measured here is simply a different and more focused factor about gang members in the correctional environment.

The results of this survey showed that 80.5 percent (N = 235) of the responding adult state correctional administrators did feel that gang members generally have a stronger affiliation with their gang after serving time. This is consistent with the previous research (See: George W. Knox, 1994, An Introduction to Gangs, Wyndham Hall Press, 52857 C.R. 21, Bristol, Indiana 46507) in that once a gang member is sent to a correctional institution, like being violated by his/her own gang, it may actually increase commitment to the gang in one sense: a greater opportunity for achieving gang "rank" exists behind bars, and a greater chance to meet up with the gang leaders occurs in that situation as well.

Thus, only a fifth (19.5%, N = 57) of the respondents did not feel that the penal sanction increases gang ties.

Universal Support Among Prison Wardens In America: Public Notice Should Be Given Upon the Release of a Sex Offender

This question produced little variation is what our findings show. The survey asked "do you believe that public notice should be given upon the release of a sex offender". The overwhelming majority (93.8%, N = 289) did in fact agree that such public notification should be given upon the release of sex offenders. In fact, only 6.2 percent (N = 19) of the responding correctional administrators did not support this idea. It could be argued as well that correctional administrators are in a good position to know about the validity of the threat represented by sex offenders. We are aware of a growing trend in terms of victims rights and the prevention of sex crimes generally, where this process of public notification is coming to be adopted with varying degrees of strength in terms of public notice for the release of sex offenders.

A Third Report Their Facilities Have Programs Designed to Improve Race Relations Among Inmates

The survey asked "does your facility have any programs for inmates which seek to improve race relations among inmates". A third of the responding adult state correctional institutions (31.9%, N = 96) did report that their facilities to have programs that seek to improve inmate race relations. Thus, two-thirds (68.1%, N = 205) of the responding correctional institutions did not have such programs designed to improve race relations among the inmates in their facility.

It is important to point out that significant differences do exist in regard to facilities that do or do not have such programs designed to improve race relations among inmates. Table 5, for example, shows that a correctional facility that also reports there are racial conflicts among the inmates is almost twice as likely (40%) to also report having such programs designed to improve race relations among inmates, than when compared to correctional institutions that do not report that racial conflicts are a problem among their inmates (21.6%). Thus, Table 5 shows that having racial conflict problems among inmates is a factor that significantly differentiates whether the same facilities do or do not have such programs designed to foster better race relations among the inmates. In other words, institutions experiencing such problems are those more likely to adopt programs that focus on improving race relations among the inmates.

What The Chi-Square Significance Test Means

This is an appropriate point to briefly explain to the reader how to interpret the meaning of the Chi-square test statistic used in this report. As seen in Table 5, the probability level for this Chi-square result is p = .001. What that means is that in only one time out of 1,000 could this result have occurred by chance alone, thus it is very significant. "Significant" in social research such as this basically means any probability level of .05 or less. Also, the higher the value of the Chi-square test statistic, the stronger the relationship between the two variables. A significant Chi-square test statistic means the two variables are not independent.

In the Chi-square statistic, the expected frequencies in a table are compared to the observed frequencies. The Chi-square test is therefore a test of independence. When the Chi-square test is not significant, that is the probability level if greater than .05, it is assumed the two variables are independent. When two variables are independent of each other, it basically means one has no major effect on the other. When the Chi-square test is in fact significant, that is the probability level is less than or equal to .05, then one can conclude that one variable does have a significant effect in differentiating the other variable (i.e., a relationship exists between the two variables).

TABLE 5

THE EFFECTS OF WHETHER RACIAL CONFLICTS ARE A PROBLEM

IN THE INMATE POPULATION BY WHETHER PROGRAMS

EXIST TO IMPROVE RACE RELATIONS AMONG THE INMATES

Does your facility have any

programs for inmates which

seek to improve race relations

among inmates?

NO (N) YES (N) % Yes

Are racial conflicts a

problem among the offenders

in your facility? NO 105 29 21.6

YES 96 64 40.0

Chi-square = 11.3, p = .001

Few States Have Separate Facilities For Confidential Informants

Our research reveals that most state adult correctional systems do not have separate physical plants or facilities for confidential informants. Sometimes called "snitch farms", or Security Management Units, states with large gang problems find it inevitable to create these when seeking to prosecute gang members behind bars.

The survey asked "does your state have a separate correctional facility for confidential informants". Only 11.4 percent (N = 35) of the respondents indicated their state has such separate facilities for confidential informants. Most (88.6%, N = 271) of the respondents indicated their state does not have separate facilities for confidential informants who are inmates.

Recidivism Rates

Any study of adult corrections would not be complete without some focus on recidivism. There is no national standardized reporting format for recidivism that is lived up to. Although everyone understands its basic meaning. The basic meaning is "does the inmate return into the correctional system". So the survey asked "please estimate what percentage of your inmates have previously served time in your facility". The results ranged from a low of zero percent to a high of 98 percent. Suffice it to say, that great variation exists in this factor. The mean or national average was 39.1 percent.

Vast Majority Support "Truth in Sentencing" Legislation

The survey asked "do you believe in the idea of truth in sentencing (i.e., a five year sentence really means serving 85 percent or more of that actual sentence)". Some 87.6 percent (N = 268) of the respondents indicated that they do in fact believe in the idea of "truth in sentencing". Only 12.4 percent (N = 38) indicated that they do not believe in the idea of "truth in sentencing".

Percentage of Inmates Who Are Mentally Ill

The survey asked "please estimate what percentage of the inmates in your facility are mentally ill". The results ranged from a low of zero percent to a high of 100 percent. The mean, or overall average, was that 7.6 percent of the inmates were mentally ill. The vast majority (83.4%) of the N = 283 respondents providing data for this variable gave estimates of ten percent or under.

Very Few Report Any Pressure From State Officials to "Play Down" Gang Activity

This is variable deals with the denial syndrome often associated with states having large adult correctional systems that also have high gang density rates. The survey therefore asked "do you receive any pressure from state officials to play down gang activity". Only 7.8 percent (N = 25) of the responding correctional administrators reported that they do in fact receive such pressure to engage in gang denial. The vast majority (92.2%, N = 294) of the correctional administrators responding to the survey indicated that they do not receive any such pressure to downplay the gang problem.

Over a Third of All Correctional Facilities Report Disturbances Related to Gang Members in their Facilities During the Last Year

The survey asked "during the last twelve month period, have there been any disturbances related to gang members in your facility". Some 38 percent (N = 120) of the responding facilities did in fact report such gang disturbances during the last one year time period. Thus, about two-thirds (62%, N = 196) of the facilities surveyed reported not having any such gang disturbances during the last one year time period.

Two-fifths of All Correctional Facilities Report Disturbances Related to Racial Conflict in their Facilities During the Last Year

The survey asked "during the last twelve month period, have there been any disturbances related to racial conflict in your facility". Some 40.3 percent (N = 128) of the correctional institutions responding to the survey indicated that they have in fact experienced such racial disturbances during the last one year time period. Thus, 59.7 percent (N = 190) of the respondents reported no such racial disturbances during the last one year.

The Strong Relationship Between Racial Disturbances and Gang Disturbances in Correctional Institutions

Previous research by the NGCRC has shown that in adult and juvenile correctional contexts that racial disturbances are not independent of gang disturbances. The present research enables another very direct large scale test of this hypothesis. Table 6 provides the results of this test.

As seen in Table 6 a strong significant relationship emerges here (p < .001) between racial disturbances and gang disturbances in adult state correctional institutions. Among those facilities that had no racial disturbances in the last year, only 13.7 percent also had gang disturbances. However, among those facilities that did in fact have racial disturbances in the last year, some 74.6 percent of these facilities also had gang disturbances in the same last one year time period.

These findings are very consistent with earlier research dating back to 1990 on the relationship between racial conflict and gang conflict (see Knox, 1994). In other words, having one of these problems tends to very substantially increase the likelihood of having the other problem as well. Thus, the problems are both closely related in a significant way.

TABLE 6

The Effects of Racial Conflicts on Gang Conflicts

in a Large National Sample of

Adult State Correctional Institutions

During the last 12 month period,

have there been any disturbances

related to gang members in your

correctional institution?

NO (N) YES (N) % Yes

During the last 12 month

period, have there been any

disturbances related to

racial conflict in

your facility? NO 163 26 13.7%

YES 32 94 74.6%

Chi-square = 118.6, p < .001

Few Report That Their Staff Sometimes Find it Necessary to Negotiate With Gang Members in Order to Keep the Peace

The survey asked "do staff in your facility sometimes find it necessary to negotiate with gang members in order to keep the peace". Only 12.2 percent (N = 37) reported that staff in their facility do sometimes find it necessary to negotiate with gang members in order to keep the peace. Most of the respondents (87.8%, N = 266) indicated that their staff do not engage in wheeling and dealing with gang members as an order maintenance device. It is risky indeed to negotiate with any offender in custody, particularly gang members.

An Empirical Test: Does Negotiating With Gang Members Lower the Risk of Gang Disturbances?

Can the casual process of negotiating with gang members to keep the peace among prison inmates help to also reduce the probability of gang disturbances? The present research allows us to directly test this hypothesis. We will use two variables already discussed in this report: (1) the issue of negotiating with gang members in order to keep the peace, and (2) whether there have been gang disturbances during the last year. The variable about negotiating with gang members is shown to have a significant effect in terms of differentiating whether institutions do or do not have gang disturbances. The results of this test are provided in Table 7.

TABLE 7

The Relationship Between Prison Staff Sometimes

Negotiating With Gang Members to Keep the Peace

And Whether The Same Facilities Actually

Report A Gang Disturbance in the Last Twelve Months

During the last 12 month period,

have there been any disturbances

related to gang members in your

facility?

NO (N) YES (N) % Yes

Do staff in your facility

sometimes find it necessary

to negotiate with gang

members in order to keep

the peace? NO 183 81 30.6

YES 8 28 77.7

Chi-square = 30.3, p < .001

As seen in Table 7, there is a strong relationship between the two variables: one significantly differentiates the other, that is very clear. However, it is not consistent with the expectation that having staff who sometimes negotiate with gang members means having an institution with a reduced likelihood of also having gang disturbances. In fact, the relationship is very strong in the direction of suggesting something else entirely.

Survey research cannot prove causation, because survey research like the present research is cross-sectional in nature. However, one this is very clear: institutions that have staff who sometimes find it necessary to negotiate with gang members in order to keep the peace are also institutions that have a very high rate of gang disturbances in the last one year time period (77.7%). Only 30.6 percent of the facilities that did not have staff who periodically negotiate with gang members to keep the peace reported being institutions that also had gang disturbances in the last year.

While the causal nexus remains uncertain , the findings in Table 7 still bear great attention. For if the condition of having staff who negotiate with gang members is occurring to prevent gang disturbances from occurring in the first place, rather than in dealing with gang disturbances ex post facto in a "cool down" mode, then what Table 7 might be saying is that negotiating with one security threat group or gang is enough to ensure a statistically significant increase, not a decrease, in the probability of an eventual gang disturbance in the same facility. The researchers highly recommend that this matter be subjected to further additional research. For the possibility exists that confused policies at an administrative level could adversely impact on the safety of correctional staff and inmates alike.

The researchers further recommend no negotiation with inmate leaders or members of gangs or STGs for anything other than for gang intelligence purposes. The reason is Table 7 suggests that it may be possible that the following scenario occurs: a pattern of concessions are made to gang leaders or gang members in the goals of conflict management, however the intense competition between rival gangs being as deadly as it is may also generate ongoing enmity by the symbolic consequences of "favoritism" towards one or another of the gangs. No special favors resulting from "negotiation" should therefore accrue to inmates who will interpret this action from legitimate authority to mean a delegation of power or control.

Gangs and STGs will always take the offer that confers upon them any unique power, authority, or control that they can further exploit against the mission statement of the correctional facility. Written policy statements for correctional mid-management and line staff should be prohibit disturbing the equilibrium of gang conflict among inmates in this fashion as independent individual relationships with gang or STG members; the reason is that where it occurs legitimately is in the intelligence area (strategic: for an overall management plan; and tactical: i.e., for purposes of immediate criminal prosecution), and this means the information must be codified, centralized, and analyzed in a feed-back loop to all others in this unique "social system" called the adult state correctional institution.

Hostage Situations Involving Inmates and Staff

The survey asked "when was the last time your facility had a hostage situation involving inmates and staff? 19____ or ____Never". Some N = 76 institutions provided dates for the last time their facility had a hostage situation involving inmates and staff. Some N = 240 of the respondents indicated "never". Thus, 24.1 percent of the respondents did report a hostage situation since 1969 with a mean value of 1985.2, meaning the early part of 1985.

The trend is easy to summarize for hostage situations. The dates for the last hostage situation ranged from 1969 to present (1995). A fourth (25%) of those reporting such hostage situations, last had a hostage situation on or before 1980. About half (52.6%) last had a hostage situation on or before 1986. However, some 28.9 percent of those reporting having ever had a hostage situation indicated their last hostage situation as occurring on or after 1992.

Three Fourths of Adult State Correctional Institutions Report That Most of Their Staff and Employees Have Received Training in Cultural Diversity

The survey asked the yes or no question: "have most of your staff and employees received training in cultural diversity". Some 74.1 percent (N = 237) indicated "yes", that in fact most of their staff and employees have received training in cultural diversity. Thus, only a fourth (25.9%, N = 83) of the responding adult state correctional institutions indicated that they had not yet met this condition.

There was no significant difference regarding gang disturbances or racial disturbances during the last year with respect to this training factor. Nor did this factor significantly differentiate beliefs about whether anything could be done to reduce racial conflicts among inmates.

Date of Last Major Inmate Riot In Their State System

The survey asked "for your entire state correctional system, when was the last major inmate riot". The results ranged from as long ago as 1954 to as recently as the present year (1995). About a fourth (26.7%, N = 73) reported their last major inmate riot in their state system on or before the year 1983. In fact, half (48.7%, N = 133) reported the last major inmate riot in their state system on or before 1988. Yet some 21.2 percent (N = 58) reported a riot during 1995.

Two-Fifths Report Staff Members In Their Facility Testing Positive for the PPD (Tuberculosis) Test in the Last Year

The survey asked "have any staff members in your facility tested positive for the PPD (tuberculosis) test in the last twelve months". Data was available on N = 296 institutions. The results showed that 43.2 percent (N = 128) did in fact report staff testing positive for the PPD test during the last year. Some 56.8 percent (N = 168) reported no staff testing positive for the PPD test during the last year.

There was no significant relationship observed between staff testing positive for the PPD test during the last year and the variable for whether the same institutions isolate inmates who also test positive for the PPD test. Where the significance comes in for the variable of staff testing positive for the PPD test is in relationship to inmates who have been diagnosed with TB during the last one year time period. Among institutions reporting that no inmates had been diagnosed with TB during the last year, only 22.5 percent also reported staff who tested positive for the PPD test. Yet among institutions reporting that they have had any inmates who have been diagnosed with TB during the last year, some 63.3 percent of the same institutions report that staff have in fact tested positive for the PPD test during the last year as well (Chi-square = 47.5, p < .001). The link between the two factors is very strong and significant enough to command the attention of policy makers.

Half of the Institutions Isolate Inmates Testing Positive for the PPD Test

The survey asked "are inmates who test positive for the PPD (tuberculosis) test isolated from other inmates". Some 56 percent (N = 172) of the facilities in the sample indicated that inmates testing positive for the PPD test are in fact isolated from other inmates. Still, some 44 percent (N = 135) indicated that inmates testing positive for the PPD test are not isolated from other inmates.

A Fourth Would Regard A Gang Density Rate of Six Percent as A Severe Problem

The most recent federally funded research on gangs in corrections concluded that only six percent of the American prison inmate population are gang members. The earlier Camp and Camp (1985) report had concluded that only three percent of the American prison inmate population were gang members at the time of their study. The survey asked "if you state prison system had six percent of its inmates involved in gangs or security threat groups how would you regard this as a problem for corrections? ___Minor problem ___Moderate problem ___Severe problem". Some 19.7 (N = 60) percent regarded it as a minor problem. About half (54.6%, N = 166) regarded a six percent density rate as a moderate problem. And 25.7 percent (N = 78) regarded a six percent density rate as a severe problem.

The Gang Density Threshold for Having a Severe Gang Problem

The survey asked "at what percentage of the inmate population (% who are members of gangs or STGs) would you feel that a severe gang problem exists? ____ Percent". The results ranged from a low of one percent to a high of 90 percent. The mode, or most frequently cited threshold level, was ten percent. The mean, or arithmetic average, threshold level was 16.3 percent. Only a fourth (27.2%) gave ratings of six percent or under. Some 48.4 percent gave thresholds of 11 percent or higher. A third (36.7%) gave thresholds of 20 percent or higher, while two-thirds (63.3%) gave thresholds of 15 percent or lower. In fact, 89 percent gave thresholds of 30 percent or under.

What we need to point out here is how this variable compares with the actual conditions estimated for the same institutions. This national sample indicated its gang threshold would be 16.3 percent, i.e., at the point of having 16.3 percent of the inmate population as gang or STG members a "severe problem" would exist in their evaluation. Recall from the earlier analysis of actual gang density rates that nationally our current estimate is that 20.5 percent of all male inmates are in fact gang or STG members. Thus, the current estimate of gang density exceeds the threshold at which point a "severe problem" exists.

Most Security Threat Groups or Gangs Behind Bars Also Exist By the Same Name Outside of Prison

The survey asked "do the more dangerous security threat groups that exist in your facility also exist by the same name in communities outside of the correctional environment". Over three-fourths (83.9%, N = 230) of the respondents indicated that the more serious STG's in their facility also exist by the same name in communities outside of the prison environment. Thus, most of the more dangerous STG's in the American prison system are basically what some call street gangs, at least gangs that exist as well outside of confinement. Only 16.1 percent (N = 44) of the respondents answered the question "no".

About Half Believe Prison Gangs Have Tended To Result in More Improvised Weapons Production Among Inmates

The survey asked "in your opinion, have prison gangs tended to result in more improvised weapons production (e.g., shanks, etc) among inmates in your facility". About half of the correctional administrators in the sample (47.6%, N = 141) expressed the opinion that prison gangs have resulted in greater improvised weapons production. Similarly, about half (52.4%, N = 155) did not feel that prison gangs have resulted in greater improvised weapons production in their facility.

Four-Fifths Agree: We Need Tougher Laws to Control the Gang Problem in Prison

The survey asked "do you feel we need tougher laws to control the gang problem in prison". Some 81.2 percent (N = 254) of the correctional administrators responding to the survey expressed the opinion that tougher laws are in fact needed to control the gang problem in American corrections today. Only a fifth (18.8%, N = 59) did not feel that tougher laws are needed to control the gang problem behind bars.

Half Believe A Program to Improve Race Relations Could Reduce the Gang Violence or STG Problem as Well

The survey asked "do you believe a program that sought to improve race relations among inmates could reduce the gang violence or Security Threat Group (STG) problem in your facility". The correctional administrators were evenly mixed on this issue. About half (48.1%, N = 140) did believe that such a program to foster better race relations could reduce the gang or STG problem in their facility. Still, half (51.9%, N = 151) did not believe that such a program could reduce the threat posed by the gang problem in their facility. This extent to which someone might believe in this strategy for handling gang problems in correctional institutions may depend, we hypothesize, on whether or not the same administrators believe that anything at all can or cannot be done about race relations. We will come to this issue shortly in another section of this report.

The Percentage of All Institutional Management Problems Caused By Gangs or STGs

The survey asked "in your estimate, what percentage of all institutional management problems in your facility are caused by gangs/STGs or gang/STG members? ____Percent". The results for this variable ranged from a low of zero percent (23.3% indicated zero percent of their institutional management problems could be traced to gangs or STGs) to a high of 100 percent. The mean, or average, was that 17.2 percent of all institutional management problems in the facilities surveyed here were caused by gangs or STGs or their members.

The Percentage of All Inmate Violence Caused by Gangs or Gang Members

The survey asked "in your estimate, what percentage of all violence among inmates in your facility is caused by gangs or gang members". The results ranged from a low of zero percent (22.8% indicated zero percent) to a high of 100 percent. The mean, or average, was that 22.1 percent of all inmate violence in American adult correctional institutions was caused by gangs or gang members.

The Debate About Weight Lifting For Inmates: Two-fifths Say Eliminate It

The survey asked "do you feel it would be a good policy to eliminate weight lifting for inmates". Some 42.6 percent (N = 135) of the correctional administrators responding to the survey agreed that it would be a good policy to eliminate weight lifting for inmates. But 57.4 percent (N = 182) of the respondents did not feel it would be a good policy to eliminate weight lifting for inmates. Obviously, a debate exists about this issue even among corrections professionals.

We did examine this variable in relationship to several other factors. First, it did not vary by objective risk conditions such as whether gang members have been a problem in terms of assaults or threats on staff, nor did it vary significantly by institutional security level of the responding facility. Second, it did vary by what are essentially variables measuring beliefs: those who felt the government should not pay the costs for inmates enrolled in college courses and those who felt stronger laws are needed to control the gang problem were those who were more significantly likely to want to eliminate weight lifting for inmates.

Four-Fifths Agree: Telephone Monitoring Is Effective in Disabling Gang Leaders From Maintaining Ties to Outside Gang Members

The survey asked "in your opinion is telephone monitoring an effective technique to prevent gang leaders from maintaining their ties to outside gang members". Four-fifths (80.4%, N = 242) of the correctional administrators responding to the survey agreed that telephone monitoring is an effective technique in this regard. Only a fifth (19.6%, N = 59) did not believe telephone monitoring could be effective in this way.

Four-Fifths Agree: Mail Monitoring Also Impairs Gang Leaders From Maintaining Ties to Outside Gang Members

The survey asked "in your opinion is mail monitoring an effective technique to prevent gang leaders from maintaining their ties to outside gang members". Four-fifths (82.2%, N = 250) of the respondents did in fact feel that mail monitoring is an effective technique to prevent gang leaders from maintaining their ties to outside gang members. Only a fifth (17.8%, N = 54) did not believe in the effectiveness of this technique.

A Statistical Rarity: the Prison Warden Who Thinks that Prisons are Feared and a Deterrent to Gang Members

The survey asked "do you think prisons are feared and a deterrent to gang members". Some 95.4 percent of the respondents (N = 292) expressed the viewpoint that prisons are not feared by or a deterrent to gang members. Only 4.6 percent (N = 14) felt that prisons are feared and a deterrent to gang members. This is, after all, not very surprising to those in the field of criminal justice as it would be to most civilians unfamiliar with the gang problem.

Two-Thirds Believe It Is Possible to Reduce Racial Conflicts Among Inmates

The survey asked "do you think anything can be done to reduce racial conflicts among inmates". Some 69.4 percent (N = 211) did express the viewpoint that something can in fact be done to reduce racial conflicts among inmates. About a third (30.6%, N = 93) of the respondents were more fatalistic in taking the belief that nothing can be done to reduce racial conflicts among inmates. In the section of addition analysis that follows next the present researchers go on record against the fatalistic viewpoint. This rests on the historical knowledge that racial enmity and ethnic conflict have long been part and parcel of the gang or STG problem. Thus, reducing racial conflict could remove some of the fuel that fires the engine of the gang/STG problem.

The Greater The Belief That Racial Conflicts Can Be Reduced Among Inmates, The More That Race Relations Improvement Is Believed To Be A Way To Reduce The Gang Problem

This may be an issue of skepticism and disbelief generally, that is one of attitude alone. We had hypothesized, however, that the extent to which correctional administrators thought that a program seeking to improve race relations could have a positive effect on reducing the gang problem is itself a factor that would vary by beliefs about the extent to which race relations among inmates can be experimentally manipulated. It seems clear that to the extent that race relations can be deteriorated by ugly isolated incidents receiving much adverse publicity that one must admit that race relations among virtually all human beings is subject to experimental manipulation. The only question is the direction of the impact. That direction of change which appeals to the baser side of humanity may among offenders be easier to induce.

This is, we feel, still a vital and neglected issue that still remains somewhat of a taboo topic in nearly all correctional publications today. Few correctional textbooks, and fewer still publications targeting a correctional practitioner audience, address the issue of race relations among inmates. We are thankful that the correctional administrators in America continue to provide us with this meaningful information to analyze in light of this need for more useful knowledge on the issue. The NGCRC has, and continues to be, one of the few groups to address this issue directly, systematically, and objectively.

Table 8 shows, then, an important finding in this regard. Among those who do not believe much can be done about race relations among inmates, only 20.4 percent felt a program designed to improve race relations could possibly reduce the gang problem behind bars. Among those believing race relations can be shaped in a positive direction, the percentage triples to 60.4 percent for those believing that a program designed to improve race relations could also reduce the gang or STG problem as well.

TABLE 8

The Effects of Believing Whether Anything Can Be

Done To Reduce Racial Conflicts Among Inmates by

Whether the Same Prison Wardens Believe that a Program

Designed to Improve Race Relations Among Inmates Could

Also Reduce the Gang and STG Problem in Their Facility As Well

Do you believe a program that sought

to improve race relations among inmates could reduce the gang violence

or Security Threat Group (STG) Problem

in your facility?

NO (N) YES (N) % Yes

Do you think anything can

be done to reduce racial

conflicts among inmates?

NO 70 18 20.4%

YES 78 119 60.4%

Chi-square = 38.8, p < .001

Half of the Correctional Facilities Report Having Had Inmates Diagnosed With Tuberculosis During The Last Year

The survey asked "during the last year, have any inmates in your facility been diagnosed with tuberculosis". Some 53.8 percent (N = 157) of the responding adult state correctional facilities did in fact report such recent cases of TB being diagnosed among their inmates. Similarly, half (46.2%, N = 135) did not report such cases of TB being diagnosed among their inmates during the last one year period.

Over Half Report Their Facility Uses "Unit Management"

According to the recent textbook on correctional organization, management, and administration by Houston (1995), unit management is an innovation that makes for more efficient operations in terms of decision-making. As one of the co-principal investigators in this survey research project, the same author predicted unit management to increase in future years. Thus, the survey asked the question "does your facility use what is called Unit Management". Some 58 percent (N = 174) of the responding adult state correctional facilities did in fact indicate that their facility uses "unit management". So, overall, those who do not use unit management are at this point the minority in corrections (42%, N = 126) at least in terms of this sample. And we consider the sample to be generalizable to the larger population.

Inmate Population Count

The survey asked "what is the total inmate population (count) for your institution as of today". The count for each respondent was used to generate a larger total sum. Thus, among the institutions in this sample, there were a total of N = 240,724 inmates incarcerated in their collective facilities. Female inmates made up 4.5 percent of the total sample which is very close to the national average. Historically, in the American adult state correctional inmate population females have constituted about five percent of the overall confined population.

Security Levels of the Institutions

The survey asked "what level of security is your institution". Just under half (45.2%, N = 127) were minimum security facilities. About a fourth (28.1%, N = 79) were medium security. And about a fourth (26.7%, N = 75) were maximum security institutions.

Nearly Half Believe Providing Tuition Support for Staff Could Help Deal With The Gang Problem

The survey asked "do you believe that providing tuition support for staff could help control the prison gang problem". The issue here is continuing education for correctional officers. Those with greater training, perhaps in social sciences and particularly in criminal justice where today many universities offer courses about the understanding/control/prevention of gang problems, would be better equipped to confront the intense personal dynamics of gang life behind bars. Some 45.1 percent (N = 138) of the respondents did believe that providing tuition support for staff could help control the prison gang problem. Just over half (54.9%, N = 168), however, did not believe this tuition help to staff could help deal with the prison gang problem.

The Year The Facility's Physical Plant Was Constructed

The survey asked "in what year was your physical plant constructed". The results for this variable were available on N = 289 institutions. The results showed a range from as old as 1836 to as recently constructed as the current year (1995). Only ten percent were built on or before 1900. Some 35.3 percent were built on or before 1950. Half (50.5%) were built on or before 1969, thus the other half (49.5%) were built on or after 1970. A fourth (26.3%) had been built on or after 1985. The average age of these physical plants was that they were constructed in the year 1957.

Few Institutions Have Full-Time Staff Employed as Ombudsmen for Inmates

The survey asked "does your institution have any full-time staff employed as ombudsmen for inmates". The results showed that only 16.1 percent (N = 48) of the respondents indicated that their facility had any full-time staff employed in the role of being ombudsmen for the inmates. Most of the respondents (83.9%, N = 250) reported having no such full-time staff employed in this capacity.

Four-Fifths Believe Gang Members Gang Members Have a Higher Recidivism Rate

The survey asked "in your opinion, do gang members tend to have a higher recidivism rate". Some 79.4 percent (N = 227) expressed the opinion that they do believe gang members tend to have a higher recidivism rate. A fifth (20.6%, N = 59) did not believe gang members have a higher recidivism rate.

Three-Fifths Take Gang Membership Into Account in Their Classification System for Inmates

The survey asked "does your institutional classification system take gang membership into account". Some 60.3 percent (N = 178) of the respondents indicated that their inmate classification system does take gang membership into account. Thus, 39.7 percent (N = 117) indicated that their inmate classification system does not take gang membership into account.

Strategies Currently Used to Control Gang Members Behind Bars

The survey asked "what strategies does your facility use to control gangs (check all those that apply)". The check off list was used, and included every previous known technique, plus new options known to exist. The results are presented in Table 9. As seen in Table 9 the most frequently used techniques to control the gang problem in adult state correctional institutions today include: transfers (79.7%), case by case dealings (72.3%), monitor and track gang members (64.4%), monitor mail (61.2%), segregation (59.6%), and displacing members to different facilities (59.7%).

As seen in Table 9, few fortunately are using questionable techniques that are controversial in their own right such as: joint meetings between various gang leaders (3.5%), coopting of prisoners to control gangs (3.8%), and ignoring their existence (4.9%).

Sadly, while a great deal of gang research on a variety of topics has been funded by the federal government in recent years, absolutely no gang research has been funded that examines the more practical issue of the effectiveness of any of these gang control techniques listed in Table 9. It simply has been a neglected issue by federal funding sources.

So while we know a lot about the gang problem behind bars in terms of what control strategies are actually being used to deal with the gang problem, we still know very little about the comparative effectiveness of these different approaches, or whether some approaches in combination have the best overall impact on reducing the violence threat represented by gangs and STGs.

One option in the list in Table 9 is very new: involvement in the National Major Gang Task Force established through the American Correctional Association members. This is a relatively new initiative. But Table 9 does show a growing involvement in this effort to collaborate and share information across jurisdictions, as 13.8 percent indicated this was a part of their overall strategy. Still, the vast majority (86.2%) of the responding correctional institutions in this sample indicated that the National Major Gang Task Force is not included in their strategies used to deal with gang problems in corrections today.

TABLE 9

Frequency and Percentage Distribution of

Strategies Used to Control Gangs

in a Large National Sample of Adult State

Correctional Institutions

Does Your Facility Use This

Strategy to Control Gangs?

NO YES

Gang Control Strategies Used: N % N %

Transfers 61 20.3 239 79.7

Use of Informers 137 46.3 159 53.7

Segregation 118 40.4 174 59.6

Isolating Leaders 161 54.4 135 45.6

Lockdown 191 65.6 100 34.4

Prosecution 206 71.0 84 29.0

Interrupting communications 187 64.3 104 35.7

Case by case dealings 83 27.7 217 72.3

Ignoring their existence 273 95.1 14 4.9

Infiltration 270 93.8 18 6.3

Displacing members to

different facilities 119 40.3 176 59.7

Coopting of prisoners to

control gangs 278 96.2 11 3.8

Meeting with gang leaders on

an as needed basis 254 88.2 34 11.8

Joint meetings between various

gang leaders 277 96.5 10 3.5

Balance the number of rival

gang members living in

the same unit 210 72.9 78 27.1

National Major Gang Task Force 250 86.2 40 13.8

Monitor and track gang members 106 35.6 192 64.4

Locking up gang leaders in

high security facilities 201 68.4 93 31.6

Monitor mail 116 38.8 183 61.2

Monitor telephone calls 147 49.3 151 50.7

Other 277 96.2 11 3.8

Half Report Gangs Have Significantly Affected Their Correctional Environments

The survey asked "do you believe that gang members have significantly affected your correctional environment". Some 54.1 percent (N = 170) of the respondents indicated that they did in fact believe that gang members have significantly affected their correctional environment. Similarly, 45.9 percent (N = 144) did not feel that gangs have significantly affected their correctional environment.

Number of Full-Time Personnel Employed By Their Facilities

The survey asked "how many full-time personnel are employed by your facility". A total of N = 71,270 full-time personnel were employed in the sample of institutions surveyed here.

Vast Majority Do Not Feel The Federal Department of Justice Has Provided Effective Leadership in Suppressing the Gang Problem in American Cities

The survey asked "do you feel the federal Department of Justice has provided effective leadership in suppressing the gang problem in American cities". Some 87.8 percent (N = 258) felt that the federal Department of Justice has not provided effective leadership in suppressing the gang problem in American cities. Only 12.2 percent (N = 36) of the respondents felt that the federal Department of Justice has in fact provided effective leadership in suppressing the gang problem in American cities.

Gang Involvement in Smuggling Drugs Into Correctional Facilities

The survey asked "in your opinion, what percent of all illicit drugs are brought into your facility by prison gang members". The results ranged from a low of zero percent to a high of 100 percent. The mean, or average, was that 32.6 percent of the illegal drugs were being smuggled into correctional institutions by gang members.

Gang Involvement in Drug Sales Within The Inmate Underground Economy

The survey asked "in your opinion, what percentage of the illicit drug trade in your facility is dominated by gang/STG members". The results ranged from a low of zero percent to a high of 100 percent. The mean or average was that 35.0 percent of the overall illicit drug trade in these correctional facilities was dominated by gang or STG members.

Half Report That Overcrowding is a Problem in their Facility

The survey asked the yes/no question "Generally, is overcrowding a problem in your facility". Half (52%, N = 166) of the institutions reported that generally overcrowding is a problem in their facility. Half (48%, N = 153) reported that generally overcrowding is not a problem in their facility.

This factor was significant in relationship to the variable measuring whether any inmates had been diagnosed with TB during the last one year period (Chi-square = 5.95, p = .01). Among those facilities that reported overcrowding was a problem in their facility some 60.4 percent had also reported inmates being diagnosed with TB during the last year, this compares with 46 percent for those institutions that reported overcrowding was not a problem in their facility.

Life-Threatening Violence Among Inmates in the Last Year

The survey asked "please estimate how many violent assaults among inmates that resulted in life-threatening injuries during the last twelve month period". The results ranged from a low of zero to a high of 178. In fact, half (49.1%, N = 139) of the respondents indicated zero such incidents in the last year of life-threatening violence among inmates in their facility. The mean, or average, was 3.8 such life-threatening cases of inmate violence during the last year.

Most Correctional Administrators Feel A Zero Tolerance Approach to Gangs is Best

The survey asked for a range of responses for their views about the statement "a zero-tolerance policy is the best approach for dealing with gangs and gang members". Some 65.4% (N = 208) strongly agreed. Another 21.7% (N = 69) agreed. Thus, the vast majority (87.1%, N = 277) of the respondents agreed or strongly agreed with the zero-tolerance policy on gangs and gang members. Only 8.8 percent (N = 28) indicated they neither agree or disagree. Only 3.8 percent indicated they disagreed. And one lone respondent (.3%) indicated "strongly disagree".

Inmate-Against-Inmate Assaults: Degree of Gang Involvement

The survey asked the respondents to estimate the percent of inmate-against-inmate assaults that involved gang members. The results ranged from a low of zero percent to a high of 100 percent. The mean, or average, was that 23.8 percent of all inmate-against-inmate assaults involved gang members.

Just Over a Fourth Have Staff Who Belong to State or Regional Gang Investigator Associations

The survey asked "do any of your staff belong to the state or regional Gang Investigators Association". Some 28.9 percent (N = 88) indicated that they did have staff who were active in their local gang investigator associations. Most (71.1%, N = 217) of the correctional institutions did not have staff who belonged to these gang investigator associations.

Gang Members Do Not File More Law Suits Than Do Non-Gang Member Inmates

The survey asked "do gang members generally tend to file more law suits against your institution than non-gang member inmates". Some 92.7 percent (N = 254) of the responding correctional facilities indicated that gang members generally do not tend to file more law suits against them than non-gang member inmates. Only 7.3 percent (N = 20) indicated that gang members are more prone to this activity than non-gang member inmates.

About Half of the Institutions Indicate they are Community-Based

The survey asked "is your facility community-based". Some 45.5 percent (N = 137) indicated that their facility is in fact community-based. Some 54.5 percent (N = 164) indicated that their facility is not community-based.

Types of Correctional Institutions Represented in the Study

The survey asked "which category best describes your facility" and the check-off options corresponded to currently used categories of correctional institutions. Some 59.2 percent (N = 173) were adult correctional institutions. Only one (.3%) was a correctional medical facility. Some 9.9 percent (N = 29) indicated their facility was a prison or penitentiary. Some 4.8 percent (N = 14) indicated their facility was a reception and diagnostic institution. Some 8.2 percent (N = 24) indicated their facility was a work camp/farm/forestry/conservation center. Some 17.1 percent (N = 50) indicated their facility was a community correctional center. And one respondent (.3%) indicated the facility was a boot camp/shock incarceration facility.

Nine Out of Ten Wardens Expect The Gang Problem in Corrections to Increase in the Next Few Years

The survey asked "in your opinion, do you expect the gang problem in corrections to increase or decrease in the next few years, or do you think the problem will remain at the same level it is at now". Some 89.1 percent (N = 285) expected the gang problem in corrections to increase in the next few years. Some 2.2 percent (N = 7) actually felt the gang problem would decrease in the next few years, and these optimistic souls are clearly the minority in our sample. Finally, 8.8 percent (N = 28) felt the gang problem in the next few years would remain about the same level it is at now.

Eighty Five Percent of the Wardens Expect Inmate Gang Violence To Increase in the Next Few Years

The survey asked "in your opinion, do you expect the problem of inmate violence from gang/STG members to increase or decrease in the next few years, or do you think the problem will remain at the same level it is now". The results are very consistent with the previous finding. Some 86.1 percent (N = 273) expect the problem of inmate violence from gang/STG members to increase in the next few years. Some 2.5 percent (N = 8) felt the problem would decrease in the next few years. And 11.4 percent (N = 36) felt the problem would remain at the same level it is at now.

Zip Code Analysis

The zip code of respondents revealed a large national pattern of full representation in all of the geographical areas of the United States. There was no area of the United States not represented in our national sample developed here.

Ninety Percent Authorized The Use of Zip Code or Geographical Identifier of the Responding Agency in the Analysis and Reporting of Results

Some 90.6 percent (N = 280) of the facilities in the survey gave their permission to use the zip code or geographical identifier for analysis and reporting. Only 9.4 percent (N = 29) did not want their zip code or geographical identifier used in analysis and reporting.

Almost All Wanted A Copy of the Full Free Report

Finally, the survey asked "do you want to receive a free copy of the preliminary report that will be available in two months sent to you at no charge by the National Gang Crime Research Center". Some 94.1 percent (N = 289) wanted the report. They are this date receiving this report. Only 5.9 percent (N = 18) indicated they did not want the report, mostly because they chose to complete the survey with complete anonymity (i.e., indicating no geographical area, zip code, or mailing address information).

State-by-State Variations in Certain Patterns Found in the Present Research

Appendix A contains state-by-state listings for a number of interesting factors. As this information is not intended for anyone but the respondents in the 1995 survey, and as it contains information not intended for release to the public, we have taken the precaution of encoding the column headings in these state-by-state listings. The reason is that this comparative information is intended for use by the responding correctional facilities, not the general public. Agencies and bonafide researchers who are subscribers to this journal who have a legitimate need to know this information should request the code key from the NGCRC.

These state-by-state listings indicate conditions of the gang problem (assaults and threats on staff, gang disturbances, etc), and trends in other factors of interest (racial disturbances, TB, social policy issues, etc). No other use of these state-by-state listings is permitted by anyone for any reason without the prior written permission of the director of the NGCRC.

SUMMARY, CONCLUSIONS, AND RECOMMENDATIONS

This study has some clear messages for a national correctional policy on gangs. Several things are very clear from this study. Among the major warning signs that emerged from this study is that the vast majority of prison wardens in adult state correctional institutions do in fact believe that in the next few years the gang problem will dramatically increase behind bars. In the mean time, we still have no national knowledge other than that by the NGCRC that systematically tracks this problem. Most importantly, no evaluation research has been undertaken to assess the kinds of gang control strategies that work best.

It would appear that a crisis is facing adult corrections in America today and that the policy response is comparable only to what is called the ostrich phenomenon in law enforcement gang research: sticking one's head in the sand and hoping the problem will just go away. In the mean time as well, staff and correctional officers will continue to face the real and genuine threat of an increasingly dangerous situation from gang members and security threat groups (STGs).

The most recent federally funded research on gangs blamed prison administrators on the east coast for being in a denial mode (American Correctional Association, 1993). That same research was not able to obtain the level of cooperation we obtained here. Our findings suggests it is really a problem of knowing how to do good research. The same administrators said to be in a denial mode somehow cooperated with this survey. Only one state did not "cooperate", but we viewed this not as a reason to stop the research, but an opportunity to get even closer to the real "data". When New York state continued to instruct its wardens not to respond to our questionnaires, we simply contacted line staff in key positions who were obviously closer to the day-to-day problems that gangs and STG's represent behind bars. California, Illinois, and Virginia have historically had high resistance to our annual surveys, but in spite of their bureaucratized central office policies on answering questionnaires , some of the wardens there still complete our surveys.

The ACA study based on half a million dollars in funding by the National Institute of Justice appears to have been a major failure given the extent of misinformation it contains. The ACA report indicated no gangs in the adult state correctional systems of the following states: Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Montana, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Vermont, and Wyoming. The problem may have been the way ACA conducted the study , using only one informant for each entire state it is possible that this over-aggregated unit of analysis was not able to reach to the individual institutional level of analysis, and was therefore more prone to basically be in the naive research situation of asking someone something the single respondent in each state did not really know. All we can say is that many of these same states over the years have indicated a gang presence to the NGCRC when we go to the individual correctional institutions and use the superintendent or warden as the unit of analysis.

The ACA report was overly simplistic in its research methodology by assuming a single person statewide would be knowledgeable and up-to-date about all gang or STG activities in all facilities in the same state. It was a "top down" research style, while the annual surveys conducted by the NGCRC are "bottom up". Here is what we do know: all fifty states and the District of Columbia today do in fact have some gangs or STGs in their inmate populations as of 1995. It is further possible that the ACA, being an agency that is also the accreditation body for correctional institutions, was not appropriate ethically as an awardee for the federally funded research on the same institutions; thus, while the ACA report blamed many correctional state systems for being in the "denial mode", what may have actually been occurring is a natural and normal level of cautiousness in responding to gang surveys from the same agency that bestows or removes accreditation. The proof of this is the fact that the yearly adult corrections gang assessment surveys conducted by the NGCRC since 1991 have been able to obtain much more evidence of gang and STG activity than the ACA study. While the ACA report cost over half a million dollars in federal funding, the NGCRC yearly surveys barely cost $1,000 each year because no one was being paid and no profit was sought for this important service. It is an important issue because we are talking not only about the safety of inmates but of correctional staff!

Fortunately, the ACA was not effective at disseminating its research, thereby perhaps minimizing the damage of misinformation. We know, because we researched this too. The 1994 Annual Survey of Adult Correctional Institutions by the NGCRC had survey responses from N = 290 wardens or superintendents and asked them the following question: "Did you read the report entitled Gangs in Correctional Facilities: A National Assessment (ACA, April 12, 1993)". The data was collected in the fall of 1994. The majority (71.8%) of the respondents indicated they had not read the ACA report on gangs.

The NGCRC mission statement is based on the service model of research: provide a useful service while conducting research. Thus, most of our research over the years has been probono research. Good research is not research that generates lots of income to the researchers from federal agencies like OJJDP and NIJ. Unfortunately, many scholars today feel obligated to do research only when they have such funding. Good research is work that has both scholarly and practical applications, extending our knowledge of the problem and helping to clarify the national picture in a way that leads us towards consensus. We know what bad research is: studies that use poor methodologies, with low response rates, and with results that are meaningless. But when we are dealing with the gang problem some moral obligation exists for researchers when dealing with agencies to educate those same agencies. The researchers must be responsible for this because we cannot assume that agencies like NIJ and OJJDP are effective in dissemination based on recent research findings to that effect.

Now we come to the proof of a crisis about gangs in American adult state corrections. One of the questions in this 1995 survey asked the prison administrators what they thought would be the "threshold" for the point at which a severe gang problem would exist. Our research findings in this report showed that at the point where 16.3 percent of the inmate population are gang members, American corrections can at this point in time be said to be at the level of having a severe gang problem. That density rate of 16.3 was the national average for the threshold of determining when a facility would have a severe gang problem. The current national estimated gang density from this research is that at least 20.5 percent of all male adult state correctional inmates are gang members. Thus, we have already surpassed the point of a "severe gang problem" by this reasoning. It is further worthwhile to point out to the reader that our current estimate of 20.5 percent as the national estimate for male inmate gang density is over three times that estimated in the recent federally funded research on gangs in corrections.

This research has helped to answer the larger social policy question of "how serious is the gang problem in American state adult correctional institutions today?". The answer indicated in a state-by-state analysis of all fifty states is this: the gang problem in adult state corrections is very serious and it is expected to get a lot worse in the upcoming years.

* Some 15 states have one or more institutions reporting that they receive pressure from state officials to "play down" gang activity.

* About half the 50 states have one or more institutions reporting that gangs have been a problem in terms of assaults upon staff or correctional officers.

* Some 31 states have one or more institutions reporting that they feel that gangs or gang leaders are able to influence politicians in their state.

* Some 36 states have one or more institutions reporting that gangs have been a problem in terms of threats against staff or correctional officers.

* Some 37 states have one or more institutions reporting that white inmates have a separate gang.

* Some 37 states have one or more institutions reporting that during the last year there have been disturbances related to gang members in their facility.

* Some 40 states have one or more institutions reporting that prison gangs have tended to result in more improvised weapons production (e.g., shanks, etc) among inmates in their facility.

* Some 41 states have one or more institutions reporting that gang members have significantly affected their correctional environment.

* Some 42 states have one or more institutions that have now introduced disciplinary rules to prohibit gang recruitment in their facility.

* Some 49 states have one or more institutions reporting that they expect the problem of inmate violence from gang/STG members to increase in the next few years.

* Some 49 states have one more institutional administrators who believe that tougher laws are needed to control the gang problem in prison.

* All fifty states have one or more institutions reporting that they expect the gang problem in corrections to increase in the next few years.

In seeking to keep this report simple and direct by addressing basically what the survey actually dealt with, and by not generalizing beyond our data, we have kept our promise to the over 300 respondents who have the primary duty to administer the correctional institutions in fifty states that were studied here. It is our hope that they find this report useful. However, we must also point out that by trying to keep the report simple, we have not been able to use our extensive longitudinal information developed over the years. All we would like to say about that at this time is also simple: the data suggests the gang problem is getting worse.

One disturbing overall finding compels attention from this report: the fact that while our findings from this national assessment of prison gangs and security threat groups (STGs) provide a conservative research estimate of the current national gang density, this rate is three times higher than that of the latest federally funded research! The ACA study estimated 6 percent of the American adult state corrections population were gang/STG members. Our data shows it was at least 20 percent in 1995! National law enforcement estimates of the "at large" gang member population, also Department of Justice funded studies, are also about one third of the size of the problem in research carried out and reported by the NGCRC. Sadly, it seems as if we can take the federally funded gang research estimates and triple them to arrive at what is closer to the truth about the scope and extent of the gang problem in the United States today.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

American Correctional Association

1993 Gangs in Correctional Facilities: A National

Assessment. American Correctional Association,

Laurel, MD.

Camp, George and Camille Graham Camp

1985 Prison Gangs: Their Extent, Nature, and Impact on

Prisons. National Institute of Justice, U.S. Dept.

of Justice.

Houston, James G.

1995 Correctional Management: Functions, Systems, and

Skills. Chicago: Nelson-Hall, Inc Publishing Co.

Knox, George W.

1994 An Introduction to Gangs. Bristol, Indiana: Wyndham Hall Press.

Project GEORGIA95

1995 Preliminary Results of the Gang Assessment Survey of

Law Enforcement Agencies in the State of Georgia.

National Gang Crime Research Center, Chicago.

Project WISCONSIN95

1995 Preliminary Results of the Gang Assessment Survey of

Law Enforcement Agencies in the State of Wisconsin.

National Gang Crime Research Center, Chicago.

State Code: N= Code1 Code2 Code3 Code4

Alabama 13 Y Y Y Y

Alaska 2 N N Y Y

Arizona 1 Y Y Y Y

Arkansas 5 N Y Y Y

California 6 Y Y Y Y

Colorado 7 Y Y Y Y

Connecticut 6 Y Y Y Y

Delaware 2 Y Y Y Y

District of Columbia 1 N N Y N

Florida 12 Y Y Y Y

Georgia 8 N Y Y Y

Hawaii 5 N N Y Y

Idaho 5 N N Y Y

Illinois 6 Y Y Y Y

Indiana 7 N N Y Y

Iowa 6 Y Y Y Y

Kansas 6 Y Y Y Y

Kentucky 5 N N Y Y

Louisiana 2 N N N Y

Maine 2 N N Y Y

Maryland 6 N N Y Y

Massachusetts 1 N Y Y Y

Michigan 6 Y Y N Y

Minnesota 3 Y Y Y Y

Mississippi 3 Y Y Y Y

Missouri 5 Y Y Y Y

Montana 2 N N N Y

Nebraska 7 N Y N Y

Nevada 2 N Y N Y

New Hampshire 2 N N Y Y

New Jersey 1 A A Y Y

New Mexico 5 Y Y Y Y

New York 12 Y Y A Y

North Carolina 23 N Y Y Y

North Dakota 2 N N N Y

Ohio 10 N Y Y Y

Oklahoma 19 Y Y Y Y

Oregon 7 Y Y Y Y

Pennsylvania 11 Y Y Y Y

Rhode Island 3 Y Y Y Y

South Carolina 14 Y Y Y Y

South Dakota 4 N Y Y Y

Tennessee 14 Y Y Y Y

Texas 12 Y Y Y Y

Utah 2 N Y Y Y

Vermont 1 N N Y Y

Virginia 3 Y Y Y Y

Washington 11 Y Y Y Y

West Virginia 1 N N Y Y

Wisconsin 17 Y Y Y Y

Wyoming 2 N N Y Y

State Code: Code5 Code6 Code7 Code8

Alabama Y Y Y Y

Alaska N N N Y

Arizona N N N Y

Arkansas N Y Y Y

California Y Y Y Y

Colorado Y Y Y Y

Connecticut N Y Y Y

Delaware N Y Y N

District of Columbia N N N N

Florida N Y Y Y

Georgia Y Y Y Y

Hawaii N Y Y Y

Idaho N Y Y Y

Illinois Y Y Y Y

Indiana N Y Y Y

Iowa N Y N Y

Kansas N Y Y Y

Kentucky N N N Y

Louisiana N N N Y

Maine N N N N

Maryland N N N Y

Massachusetts N Y Y Y

Michigan Y Y Y Y

Minnesota N Y Y N

Mississippi N Y Y N

Missouri Y Y Y Y

Montana N N Y N

Nebraska N Y Y N

Nevada N Y Y N

New Hampshire N N N N

New Jersey N Y Y Y

New Mexico N Y Y Y

New York Y Y Y Y

North Carolina N Y Y Y

North Dakota N N Y N

Ohio N Y Y Y

Oklahoma Y Y Y Y

Oregon N Y Y N

Pennsylvania N Y Y Y

Rhode Island N Y Y N

South Carolina Y Y Y Y

South Dakota N Y Y N

Tennessee N Y Y Y

Texas Y Y Y Y

Utah Y Y Y Y

Vermont N N N N

Virginia Y N N Y

Washington Y Y Y Y

West Virginia N N N N

Wisconsin Y Y Y Y

Wyoming N N N Y

State Code: Code9 Code10 Code11 Code12

Alabama Y Y Y Y

Alaska Y Y Y N

Arizona N Y Y Y

Arkansas Y Y Y Y

California Y Y Y Y

Colorado Y Y Y Y

Connecticut Y Y Y Y

Delaware Y N N Y

District of Columbia N Y N Y

Florida Y Y Y Y

Georgia Y Y Y Y

Hawaii Y Y Y Y

Idaho Y Y Y Y

Illinois Y Y Y Y

Indiana Y Y Y Y

Iowa Y Y Y Y

Kansas Y Y Y Y

Kentucky Y N Y Y

Louisiana Y N Y N

Maine Y Y N N

Maryland Y Y Y Y

Massachusetts Y Y N Y

Michigan Y N Y Y

Minnesota Y N N Y

Mississippi Y Y Y Y

Missouri Y Y Y Y

Montana N Y N N

Nebraska Y N Y Y

Nevada Y Y N Y

New Hampshire Y N N N

New Jersey N N N Y

New Mexico Y Y Y Y

New York Y Y Y Y

North Carolina Y Y Y Y

North Dakota Y N Y N

Ohio Y Y Y Y

Oklahoma Y Y Y Y

Oregon Y Y N Y

Pennsylvania Y Y Y Y

Rhode Island Y N N Y

South Carolina Y Y Y Y

South Dakota N Y Y Y

Tennessee Y Y Y Y

Texas Y Y Y Y

Utah Y Y Y Y

Vermont Y Y Y N

Virginia Y Y Y Y

Washington Y Y Y Y

West Virginia N N N N

Wisconsin Y Y Y Y

Wyoming N Y Y N

State Code: Code13 Code14 Code15

Alabama Y 12 10

Alaska Y 2 2

Arizona Y 1 1

Arkansas Y 5 5

California Y 6 6

Colorado Y 7 7

Connecticut Y 1 1

Delaware Y 1 2

District of Columbia N 1 1

Florida Y 11 9

Georgia Y 7 7

Hawaii Y 3 3

Idaho Y 4 4

Illinois Y 6 5

Indiana Y 6 5

Iowa Y 6 6

Kansas N 6 5

Kentucky Y 5 5

Louisiana N 2 2

Maine N 2 2

Maryland Y 4 4

Massachusetts Y 1 1

Michigan Y 5 5

Minnesota Y 2 2

Mississippi N 2 3

Missouri Y 5 5

Montana N 1 1

Nebraska Y 7 3

Nevada Y 2 2

New Hampshire Y 2 2

New Jersey Y 1 1

New Mexico Y 3 4

New York Y 12 12

North Carolina Y 20 19

North Dakota Y 2 2

Ohio Y 10 10

Oklahoma Y 17 16

Oregon Y 7 7

Pennsylvania Y 8 8

Rhode Island N 3 3

South Carolina Y 13 12

South Dakota Y 2 2

Tennessee Y 14 14

Texas Y 11 11

Utah Y 2 2

Vermont Y 1 1

Virginia N 2 2

Washington Y 8 8

West Virginia N 1 0

Wisconsin Y 15 12

Wyoming N 2 2

CODE LEGEND FOR APPENDIX A "STATE-BY-STATE" LISTINGS:

"N=" = NUMBER OF RESPONDENTS FROM THAT STATE IN THE SAMPLE FOR THE 1995 ADULT CORRECTIONS SURVEY.

Y = YES N = NO A=Prefers to be anonymous and/or missing.

Code1 = WHETHER ANY RESPONDENT FROM THAT STATE INDICATES THAT GANG MEMBERS HAVE BEEN A PROBLEM IN TERMS OF ASSAULTS ON CORRECTIONAL STAFF.

Code2 = WHETHER ANY RESPONDENT FROM THAT STATE INDICATES THAT GANG MEMBERS HAVE BEEN A PROBLEM IN TERMS OF THREATS ON CORRECTIONAL STAFF.

Code3 = WHETHER ANY RESPONDENT FROM THAT STATE FELT THAT CHAIN GANGS (I.E., HARD LABOR CREWS) SHOULD BE REINSTATED IN THEIR ADULT STATE CORRECTIONAL SYSTEM.

Code4 = WHETHER ANY RESPONDENT FROM THAT STATE BELIEVES THAT PUBLIC NOTICE SHOULD BE GIVEN UPON THE RELEASE OF A SEX OFFENDER.

Code5 = WHETHER ANY RESPONDENT FROM THAT STATE INDICATED THEY RECEIVE ANY PRESSURE FROM STATE OFFICIALS TO "PLAY DOWN" GANG ACTIVITY.

Code6 = WHETHER ANY RESPONDENT FROM THAT STATE INDICATED THAT THERE HAVE BEEN ANY DISTURBANCES RELATED TO GANG MEMBERS IN THEIR FACILITY DURING THE LAST 12 MONTH PERIOD.

Code7 = WHETHER ANY RESPONDENT FROM THAT STATE INDICATED THAT THERE HAVE BEEN ANY DISTURBANCES RELATED TO RACIAL CONFLICT IN THEIR FACILITY DURING THE LAST 12 MONTH PERIOD.

Code8 = WHETHER ANY RESpONDENT FROM THAT STATE INDICATED THAT ANY STAFF MEMBERS IN THEIR FACILITY HAVE TESTED POSITIVE FOR THE PPD (TUBERCULOSIS) TEST IN THE LAST 12 MONTHS.

Code9 = WHETHER ANY RESPONDENT FROM THAT STATE INDICATED THAT INMATES WHO TEST POSITIVE FOR THE PPD (TUBERCULOSIS) TEST ARE ISOLATED FROM OTHER INMATES.

Code10 = WHETHER ANY RESPONDENT FROM THAT STATE INDICATED IT WOULD BE A GOOD POLICY TO ELIMINATE WEIGHT LIFTING FOR INMATES.

Code11 = WHETHER ANY RESPONDENT FROM THAT STATE INDICTED THAT ANY INMATES IN THEIR FACILITY HAVE BEEN DIAGNOSED WITH TUBERCULOSIS DURING THE LAST YEAR.

Code12 = WHETHER ANY RESPONDENT FROM THAT STATE INDICATED THAT GANG MEMBERS HAVE SIGNIFICANTLY AFFECTED THEIR CORRECTIONAL ENVIRONMENT.

Code13 = WHETHER ANY RESPONDENT FROM THAT STATE INDICATED THAT OVERCROWDING WAS A PROBLEM IN THEIR FACILITY.

Code14 = NUMBER OF RESPONDENTS FROM THAT STATE WHO EXPRESSED THE BELIEF THAT IN THEIR OPINION THE GANG PROBLEM IS EXPECTED TO INCREASE IN THE NEXT FEW YEARS.

Code15 = NUMBER OF RESPONDENTS FROM THAT STATE WHO EXPRESSED THE BELIEF THAT IN THEIR OPINION THE PROBLEM OF INMATE VIOLENCE FROM GANG/STG MEMBERS IS EXPECTED TO INCREASE IN THE NEXT FEW YEARS.

ENDNOTES: