Work Cited

The Politics of AIDS and Prisons

http://www.drugtext.org/library/articles/florenz.html

This source mainly gives statistics and overview of what diseases goes on in Prison.

This source gives you an overview over of drug use and spread of viral infections in prison.

It summarizes main topics of the current discussion about prevention of infectious diseases.

It outlines what is need to be done to effectively prevent infectious diseases.

Slang Names for Prison
• http://www.rateitall.com/t-21446-slang-names-for-prison.aspx

This source shows different types of slang names for sections of the prison named by people all over the world. There were at least thirty different names such as:

Hole (solitary confinement)
Mainline Joint
Glasshouse (British Army Slang)
Con College
Hole (solitary confinement)

Behind the Walls

-An expert discusses the role of race-based gangs and other extremists in America's prisons.

• http://www.splcenter.org/intel/intelreport/article.jsp?sid=55

This article describes how prison gangs began racially motivated and how the largest prison gang expanded and operates.

Gangs within the community and gangs within prison have a lot in common. Prisoners join gangs in order to feel protected from the general population, so do young adults who join gangs to feel a part of something and protected from the other gang members within the community. Just like within the community, prisoners segregate themselves based on race. The Aryan Brotherhood took it to the next level. The brotherhood is one of the first and most powerful prison gangs. It was formed during the 1960s at San Quentin, originally to protect white inmates from Hispanic and black gangs.

These gangs used intimidation tactics to survive. It is a organized crime within the prison system. The organization is all about drugs, protection, prostitution, extortion, witness intimidation, assaults, and anything else they could use to accomplish a criminal goal. There are members on the inside and outside of jails. They communicated thought letters, girlfriends, visits, anything to get the message across.

Major Prison Gangs

• http://www.dc.state.fl.us/pub/gangs/prison.html

This article describes the major prison gangs that are recognized nationally for their participation in organized crime and violence.

This article describes the top prison gangs that are nationally recognized. It contains statistics about the gangs and what distinguishes them from each other. For the most part the gangs are racially divided, being all White, Hispanic, or Black. The gangs are mostly made up of men and they use tattoos and markings on their body to identify themselves.

The gangs also used handshakes and symbols to identify each other. These gangs become powerful and began running operations on the street such as the Latin Kings. The Latin Kings a prison gang that began in prison and its leader lived in prison and still organized major gang crimes outside of the prison walls.

Gangs Reach Out of Prison to Commit Crimes
by Michael Montgomery

• http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4525733

A federal judge in San Francisco is scheduled to sentence five leaders of a California prison gang. The men have already pleaded guilty to drug dealing, extortion and murder across northern California. These men were leaders of prison gangs in California and they used their connections and power to commit crimes outside of prison walls.

During the time these leaders ordered hits and committed crimes, the criminals were already in jail serving life sentences in one of the most secure prisons in the United States/ California has the biggest prison system, yet the prison gangs are the biggest and most powerful. These gang leaders control gangs across the United States along while being in jail. Experts are still trying to figure out how this is possible.

Prison Gangs: There is Safety in Numbers

Prison gangs were first developed in the 1960’s and have been around for decades. Florida houses six of the most nationally known prison gangs. They are:
Neta
Aryan Brotherhood
Black Guerrilla Family
Mexican Mafia (aka La eme)
La Nuestra Familia
Texas Syndicate
Often times, these gangs are formed as an alliance, a means of survival. Sometimes, depending on your gang affiliation, it could be the cause of life or death. People join gangs in prison that they wouldn’t otherwise join if they were on the street. There is a certain safety in numbers.



La Aryan Brotherhood is the oldest and largest prison gang.



It is a white gang that was formed in the 1960’s in San Quentin, California as protection against the Hispanic and Black gangs. One of their rivals are the Black Guerrilla Family. They too were started in the late 1960’s by a former black panther by the name of George L. Jackson. Currently California hosts some of the oldest prison gangs at a facility called Pelican Bay State Prison. Gangs are not to be confused with life-long friendships. Most of the members protect you out of loyalty to the oath that they took when they joined the group. Determining actually what a particular oath might entail depends on which gang one is affiliated with. For example, the Aryan Brotherhood takes a “blood-in, blood-out” oath, were as the Black Guerrilla Family takes a “death” oath. Either way, it almost guarantees your membership for life. Most times, you don’t have a choice of whether or not to join a gang because they recruit newcomers. In a prisoner’s mind, it’s kill or be killed.

http://www.history.com/video.do?name=gangland&bcpid=14519891001&bclid=16548723001&bctid=20975390001

~Diseases in Prison~

^1.3 million of the 9 million released in 2002 were infected with hepatitis C, 137,000 with HIV, and 12,000 had tuberculosis. These figures represent 29%, 13-17%, and 35% respectively of the total number of Americans who have these diseases (1) Unprotected sex is routine without access to condoms. And even activities such as tattooing or skin piercing that are relatively safe against infection from HIV or hepatitis C when performed in the outside world become high-risk activities in prison. They are prohibited by law, and their equipment banned; therefore everything connected with them is concealed and, of course, shared.

^Tattoos are one of the cause of the spread of diseases because sometimes they don’t change the needle and they just pass the diseases around.

^Diseases can spread all throughout prison from more than just needles. Unprotected sex might be the main cause. In prison they just don’t care, they feel as if they are going to be in there for the rest of their lives so they might as well keep somebody in there with them. Most of the time the prisoners don’t know that they have a disease and when they get out if their having unprotected sex with people they are passing it around to them and they don’t even know it



^Once inside prison inmates are tested for certain diseases, such as tuberculosis or syphilis, but institutions do not automatically test for HIV or hepatitis. But when procedures are not well explained (or when a prisoner does not speak English) and blood is taken, some inmates think that they are being tested for these viruses. Budget limitations often mean a no-news-is-good-news policy, so only those whose results show infection receive a follow-up appointment - and the rest assume that all is clear.

^In another case a Michigan prisoner was accidentally shown medical records from his previous incarceration and was stunned to learn that he had tested positive for hepatitis C two years earlier and had never been told. His girlfriend, with whom he had lived between his arrests, discovered that she too had the disease (probably acquired between her partner's detentions).

^Also, the use knives and other handmade objects to do tattoos. They don ‘t use needles in prison. Which causes diseases.

Beginner’s knowledge

-No matter how prison is looked at it is still a place that no one wants to be. Behind the walls of a prison there are horrific things that go one. It is a place outside of society that is set up by criminals. Imprisoned people are not considered to be part of society however just like in society they must play the game of life accordingly to prevent from losing.
-Prisons are holding places; the government puts criminals in a holding place for a certain amount of time. It is almost like TIME OUT!
- Prisoners are giving a strict schedule every day. They must follow the rules and the schedule accordingly or they will be punished. Inmates are told when they can do something, noting is done on their own time or when they want to. The lights in a prison must be out at a certain time. They go to sleep and wake up at when they are told to. The men and women use the restroom when they ask a guard and the guard tells them yes.
-Prisons have been around for many years. They have even been around since the ninetieth century.
- Prisons were created to rehabilitate.
- Prisons are so dangerous and a safe hazard because of the many people that is in one prison. In one prison there could be racist people, homosexuals, and drug addicts; this is not secure for anyone.
- Efforts were made in the United States to abolish unsanitary and demoralizing prison conditions. Reforms included the individualization of treatment, psychiatric assistance, constructive labor and vocational training.
- From 1980 to 1990, the nation's prison population increased by 134% to persons; by 2000 it was 1,381,892 persons, a 79% increase from 1990. From 1970 to 2000 the number of state inmates alone increased 500%.
-There is a huge difference in County jails then in prisons. County jail more like a short term holding place and prisons are more for longer term.
- Some children are put in homes with strangers because their parents are in prison. Few kids are able to stay with family members.
- More than 80,000 women in prisons are mothers and they have 200,000 that are under 18.

The first prison in America

In America, the concept of imprisonment came to an end result. It was encouraged by religious beliefs, the English Quaker William Penn, founder of the colony of Pennsylvania, abolished the death penalty for most crimes in the late 1600s, by doing this it was substituted by imprisonment as a punishment. The Walnut Street Gaol, in Philadelphia is considered the first prison in the U.S.



Auburn state prison system of New York came into play in 1817. The Auburn system allowed the prisoners to work together in silence and they slept separate anyone who violated these rules could get some type of strict discipline. The Pennsylvania system in the Eastern Prison located at Cherry Hill in 1829 was based on solitary confinement day and night.