The report concludes with a number of recommendations for the Correctional Service of Canada (CSC) to better address the growing problem of prison gangs and their illegal and disruptive activities. [...] Another significant challenge to the safe operations of penitentiaries is the extent to which gang members attempt to compromise staff members through their use of associates in the community. [...] And in order to engage in such activity, it requires a degree of organization that involves the cooperation of a number of individuals, both within and outside the penitentiary. [...] While most of the research literature focuses on street level gangs, the first documented prison gang study was conducted in the United States and focused on the Gypsy Jokers, an outlaw motorcycle gang based out of Portland, Oregon that formed in the 1950s and continued their activities while incarcerated in the Washington State Prison at Walla Walla (Stastny & Tyrnauer, 1983). [...] In addition to the early work of Stastny and Tyrnauer (1983) and Camp and Camp (1985), other key research of gangs in correctional facilities includes the work of Ralph and Marquart (1991) which focused on gang violence in Texas; Gaes, Wallace, Gilman, Klein-Saffran and Suppa (2002) who studied the impact of prison gangs on prison violence and related misconduct.
- Pages
- 45
- Published in
- Canada
