Tuesday, September 27, 2011

The History of White Nationalist Prison Gangs


A prison gang is a term to denote any type of gang related activity that occurs behind bars with inmates. Correctional Officers (or CO’s) refer to prison gangs as STG’s or Security Threat Groups. This is basically because gangs are created and stick together for their own protection and survival. Prison gangs are responsible for most of the violence that occurs in prison such as kidnapping, prostitution, assaults, and even murders. They are also responsible for any tobacco, alcohol or drug trade that occurs behind bars and can even be capable of laundering money from outside gangs.
The Aryan Brotherhood is one of the first white supremacist gangs created behind bars way back in 1964 in San Quentin Prison amongst a group of Irish men. They created what they call “The Brand” which is a symbol showing that you are a member of the brotherhood. It consists of a shamrock, a swastika, and the number 666. They have a history of extreme violence and it is believed to be because they were established late amongst the many black and Hispanic gangs already in existence; so they felt they had to make their presence known. Their ruthlessness led them to be the most heavily targeted gang in the federal prison systems in the 1990s. Most of the main members or leaders have been apprehended and moved to “super-max” control unit prisons at the state as well as the federal level, or transferred to Pelican Bay into a Security Housing Unit. Once this happened a newer white supremacists gang arrived by the name of the Nazi Lowriders. Known as the NLR, the Nazi Lowriders are affiliated with members originally from the Antelope Valley and are coincidentally known to accept light-skinned or Caucasian identified Hispanic members, which shows that the one drop rule may not be of strong belief to them. This also shows what prison gangs do in order to adapt, survive, and strengthen their numbers.
The Aryan brotherhood, as well as most other prison gangs are known to have different chapters around the United States as well. Standing among the original chapter, there is the Aryan Brotherhood of Texas, which is located across the Texas prison system. There is Dead Man Incorporated, which is known as DMI. This group was found in the Maryland Correctional System and it also has branches throughout the United States. There is the Aryan Circle, which is a white supremacist group affiliated with the Aryan Brotherhood of Texas as well as the KKK. The Confederate Knights of America is a white supremacist gang in Texas also affiliated with the KKK as well as the Aryan nation. European Kindred is the name of a white supremacist gang founded in Oregon and they are affiliated with the Aryan Brotherhood and the Klu Klux Klan as well.
The reason for all of these gang creations and alliances is simple. Prison is a dangerous place and strength lies within numbers. Most members only join in a desperate attempt to survive their sentence.

Monday, September 12, 2011

Intro To Lockdown

My name is Deonta and I will be blogging about prison gangs and religious hate that happens within the prison system. I am blogging for my class about white power movements and all of my posts will be directly correlated with the readings that we have. It is my job to share my point of view on white nationalist movements in today's world as well as the prison system. I am in no way a white nationalist and don't support the movements but I will be trying to bring both sides as well as trying to make sense and understand motives of white nationalism.