Question on prisons

[WiccanLiberal]

Had an interesting question for V4R today and thought I would share with the forums. One of my guilty weekend pleasures is watching those series about life behind bars. One of them today was concentrating heavily on the gang problems. The issues of suppressing gang violence in prisons take up a huge amount of resources. Corrections officers are responsible for the safety of inmates and themselves. Since it seems all but impossible to halt the hatred between the gangs, would it not be more rational to simply segregate the known gang members in separate facilities for only their affiliates? It wouldn't solve all the problems but it might reduce some of the risks to the corrections officers and to non gang inmates. Please discuss. I am trying to wrap my head around all the ramifications and would appreciate other points of view.

[Kathianne]

Had an interesting question for V4R today and thought I would share with the forums. One of my guilty weekend pleasures is watching those series about life behind bars. One of them today was concentrating heavily on the gang problems. The issues of suppressing gang violence in prisons take up a huge amount of resources. Corrections officers are responsible for the safety of inmates and themselves. Since it seems all but impossible to halt the hatred between the gangs, would it not be more rational to simply segregate the known gang members in separate facilities for only their affiliates? It wouldn't solve all the problems but it might reduce some of the risks to the corrections officers and to non gang inmates. Please discuss. I am trying to wrap my head around all the ramifications and would appreciate other points of view.

I don't know enough about the penal system to answer. However, I've read enough regarding conversions to Islam in prisons to throw that into the mix. Comments from more knowledgeable sources?

[Tyr-Ziu Saxnot]

Had an interesting question for V4R today and thought I would share with the forums. One of my guilty weekend pleasures is watching those series about life behind bars. One of them today was concentrating heavily on the gang problems. The issues of suppressing gang violence in prisons take up a huge amount of resources. Corrections officers are responsible for the safety of inmates and themselves. Since it seems all but impossible to halt the hatred between the gangs, would it not be more rational to simply segregate the known gang members in separate facilities for only their affiliates? It wouldn't solve all the problems but it might reduce some of the risks to the corrections officers and to non gang inmates. Please discuss. I am trying to wrap my head around all the ramifications and would appreciate other points of view.

Open gang membership and affiliation in prison could be completely stopped by instituting a few harsh but reasonable measures. They do not do so because the current lib/dem socialist programs are designed to cater to prisoners instead of actually punishing them!! Go back to more hard labor, more confined time and far less social interaction amongst the prisoners.
Its prison , not a club....-Tyr

[SassyLady]

I say let all the gangs in the yard at same time and let them work it out amongst themselves.

Wiccan ... if we separate them into separate facilities we are condoning their behavior to become members of gangs .... the only way people are going to get along is to have the live along side of each other and learn to get along or get out.

[gabosaurus]

The primary primary problem is that prisons are overcrowded and understaffed. And prison guards are some of the lowest paid workers in the country.
Prisons are a microcosm of the underbelly of society. You have gangs, hardened criminals and those in for petty crimes. There are so many gangs that it would be difficult to classify and separate them all.

If state governments really wanted to cut down on youth gangs and criminal activity, they would put more funding into the Scared Straight program. What they do is take first time criminal offenders and place them in prison cells (with each other, not with other criminals) either overnight or for a weekend. They also have meetings with prisoners who give them the raw truth about what prison live is about.
A three-year study reveals that close to two-thirds of the kids in the program never get in trouble again.

[tailfins]

Jails and prisons become recruiting grounds when you lock up non-violent people. We have too many people in prison with the highest incarceration rate in the world.

[Missileman]

Had an interesting question for V4R today and thought I would share with the forums. One of my guilty weekend pleasures is watching those series about life behind bars. One of them today was concentrating heavily on the gang problems. The issues of suppressing gang violence in prisons take up a huge amount of resources. Corrections officers are responsible for the safety of inmates and themselves. Since it seems all but impossible to halt the hatred between the gangs, would it not be more rational to simply segregate the known gang members in separate facilities for only their affiliates? It wouldn't solve all the problems but it might reduce some of the risks to the corrections officers and to non gang inmates. Please discuss. I am trying to wrap my head around all the ramifications and would appreciate other points of view.

Screw that! Make cell mates of opposing gang members and turn out the lights. They'll either learn to get along or prison populations will decline...win/win!