Research Paper on Gang Activity: An Increasing Threat to Public, Institutions, and Security

Introduction

Concern about criminal acts of STGs has been on the increase within communities and facilities for correction. Research carried out showed that the borders among prison mobs and the society stayed becoming distorted in an increased manner since these organizations were turning out to be sophisticated hence posing a threat to the security of public and institution(Curry & Decker, 2003; Wilkinson & Delgado, 2006). This challenge has intensified because of an expansion in the number of gangs in the correctional amenities.

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Security Threat Group Management

A survey that was piloted in 1999 by the National Gang Crime Research center showed that there was an intensification in the percentage of the membership of gangs in the grownup federal correctional amenities from 9.4 to 24.7 (Knox, 1999). The adverse effects on the safety and security of correctional organizations are expressed in different forms starting from distributing drugs, contribution of higher rates of violence, increased ethnic tensions, support of criminogenic values and failing to reintegrate into the community upon their release (Fischer, 2001; Trulson, Marquart, & Kawucha, 2006). With these trials, it is necessary to improve policies that can curb the influence of STGs and reduction in the number of people who are being recruited.

The strategies can be developed through reviewing their administration plans to govern some interventions are effective. The purpose of this research was to have a better understanding of involvements that various authority are using in the management of threats posed by the STG groups to the systems of prisons.

Negative Impacts of STG on the Correctional Systems

Security threat group is usually linked to higher violence rates. Another challenge to the operations of these correction systems is gangs compromising members of staff by using their friends in the society. According to Wilkinson and Delgado (2006) posits that staff members were being intimidated by these gangs and other officials if the groups had killed the jurisdictions. Additional, gang members take part in the importation of drugs into the correctional facilities; this is a great challenge since these facilities have a duty of ensuring that there are no illegal drugs in the country.

Security Threat Group Management Strategies

Various strategies of intervention have been developed by the staff members of the security and investigators of STG. The plan designed were shaped by some factors in the organization such as acknowledgment of the problem by the management, policies, and procedures of the department, investigative, intelligence, and resources of the security. Till now, there is no particular strategy that has been proved as being useful in the management STGs since some intervention that was used in one system and was successful when applied to the other method may be ineffective. No single strategy has been proved to be capable of suppressing the STGs the prison systems have developed a common approach which consists of isolation of STG leaders, transferring the leaders, refutation, training of the staff and intelligence sharing.

Propagation and assembling intelligence is the main priority of the majority of the custodial systems. According to a research that was conducted showed that prison had developed gang management strategies such as monitoring communication of inmates, compiling and collecting information from the analysis and sharing of the collected statistics with agencies that enforce the law ( Wells et.al 2002). Lastly, some correctional departments partnered with vendors from the private sector for tracing merchandises and amenities that criminals use with their colleagues, such as monetary connections and recordings of telephones.

Impact of Security Threat Group on Prison Operations

Inmates join a prison gang for commercial purposes. The offenders earn money by undertaking various activities such as theft, extortion, and selling illegal drugs. The members in several instances are involved in stealing properties of other inmates and sell them in the black market in prison. Secondly, they join the gang to be protected from potential violence in prison, since disorder in jail in most cases is the order of the day. There are various management issues created by the presence of STGs, such as lack of rehabilitation opportunities for the STGs and corresponding with identified inmates. STG has impacted fear among some staff because the majority of the gangs are very violent; cases have been reported of groups killing others.

According to one article that was published on the National Institute of justice which was posted on July 1, 2018, written by David Pyrooz which was talking about using or restrictive housing in management of gangs in U.S.A prison (Gaston, & Huebner, 2015). Numerous strategies have been used by the U.S.A system but have not been fruitful. They ate responsible for violence and misconducts in jails. This method is thought to be the best since it places affiliates of gangs in restrictive houses for managing the threat they may pose to the institution. According to an article on HuffPost published on 13, September posted by Michael Montgomery talks about prison gang force officials plan to adopt new methods for handling violence. The techniques such as change of rules of keeping inmates locked in specialized units for years. These main articles concern are the same, which is setting strategies for dealing with STGs.

Conclusion

This study showed that there is a prevalence of STGs in the prison systems, and they pose a significant challenge to these correctional systems. According to the people who took part in the survey reported that sanction and inmate containment were the best strategies for managing these gangs. These approaches resulted in a reduction of groups privileged, higher levels of security, and isolation of members of the band. Similarly, lead to delay in the transition of prisoners in the community upon their release. STG pose a substantial challenge to the processes of correctional institutions, reduction of communal protection thus requiring the administrations of this institutions to develop ways that will be used in reducing recruitment on new inmates, reduction in their influence and sanction of their misbehaviors.

References

Curry, G. D., & Decker, S. H. (2003). Confronting Gangs: Crime and community. Los Angeles, CA: Roxbury. Retrieved from https://www.ncjrs.gov/app/abstractdb/AbstractDBDetails.aspx?id=197525

Fischer, D. R. (2001). Arizona Department of Corrections: Security Threat Group (STG) program evaluation, final report. Washington, DC: National Institute of Justice. Retrieved from https://www.ncjrs.gov/App/abstractdb/AbstractDBDetails.aspx?id=197045

Gaston, S., & Huebner, B. M. (2015). Gangs in correctional institutions. The handbook of gangs, 328-344.Retrieved from https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=4zmkBgAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PA328&dq=WHY+DO+INMATES+JOIN+STG&ots=mMzrckjzt0&sig=AYMMlka9OBcdm6rcRQhYK9Pq3C4

Knox, G. W. (2005). The problem of gangs and security threat groups (STG's) in American prisons today: Recent research findings from the 2004 prison gang survey. Retrieved March 25, 2009.Retrieved from http://faculty.uml.edu/jbyrne/44.327/The%20Problem%20of%20Gangs%20and%20Security%20Threat%20Groups.doc

Wells, J. B., Minor, K. I., Angel, E., Carter, L., & Cox, M. (2002). A study of gangs and security threat groups in America's adult prisons and jails. Indianapolis, IN National Major Gang Task Force.