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Prison Gangs Behind Bars and Beyond ::A Vicious Game /
No full textThis book draws on a four-year ethnographic study conducted in the prisons and on the streets of Greater Manchester, England, to examine gangs and organised crime in the North of England. It includes the personal testimonies of active prison gang members and major organised crime figures, many of whom are behind bars, and some active street gang members. It presents an holistic account by exploring the linkages that exist between prisons and the streets, including the lines of continuity between gangs on both sides of the prison walls and how gang affiliation straddles this divide. It offers data on the region's drug market (specifically Class A drugs) as this market is the lynchpin of the underworld, both within and without prison. It also includes the perspectives and insights of prison officers, police detectives, youth workers, active and former street gang members and the parents of deceased gang members. This is a ground-breaking, contemporary study, analysing Englishgang compositions and activities, with its findings and results based on qualitative interviews and ethnographic research. Dev Rup Maitra is Lecturer in Criminology at the School of Criminology and Criminal Justice, University of Portsmouth, UK, and a non-practising barrister. He was called to the Bar at Lincoln's Inn as Hardwicke Scholar and holds degrees from the University of Bristol and the University of Cambridge. He was ESRC Scholar at Trinity Hall, a Member of the Cambridge Institute of Criminology Prisons Research Centre, and is Fellow of the Higher Education Academy
Gangs, race, and ‘the street’ in prison: an inductive analysis
Get PDFThis thesis investigates the practices and compositions of gangs in Greater Manchester, England. Primarily drawing from qualitative data gathered in two adult, men’s prisons, it explores gang members’ activities, how these practices develop on ‘the street’, and how they are later affected by imprisonment. The thesis also explores the links between race, geographical area and gang affiliation, analysing how a gang member’s racial background and area of origin may relate to his gang. The results show the strong influence of gangs at the sample prisons, and how gangs affect the ways in which prisoners negotiate the carceral space: violent practices, gang allegiances and rivalries developed on ‘the street’ are regularly transplanted into prison. These high levels of gang ‘importation’ into the sample prisons result in the social and cultural significance of street gangs often penetrating prison walls. Area of origin and shared racial background are strong unifying ‘banners’ under which many prison gangs operate, and violence is an integral part of life in ‘the gang’. However, reflecting the academic literature, gang members often contest the terminology around ‘gangs’, showing the polarized discourse around these topics. The thesis attempts to resolve some of these debates by presenting a comprehensive gang typology shaped by theory and prisoners’ testimonies
Book review: Competing for control: gangs and the social order of prisons
No full textIn Competing for control: gangs and the social order of prisons, David Pyrooz and Scott Decker present a comprehensive academic analysis of prison gangs in the United States. The text is based on their ‘Lonestar Project’ – a longitudinal study looking at several aspects of prison gang membership, prison gang member characteristics and re-entry. The book provides a wealth of data on this timely and contemporary area of study
“It’s a vicious game”: youth gangs, street violence and organised crime in modern Britain.
No full textThis chapter explores the activities and characteristics of street gangs and organised crime groups in contemporary British society. Although numerous studies exist which investigate youth delinquency and group violence in Britain, there is less research which specifically investigates contemporary British criminal gangs - carrying out such an exploration is the organizing principle of this chapter. Through conducting qualitative research at an adult men’s prison in England and its surrounding area, this chapter attempts to articulate the experiences of prisoners and street-offenders on this subject. The results illustrate the entrenched role street gangs and organised crime groups hold in certain areas of England; not only are they seen as viable alternatives to gainful employment, but their activities are often sanctioned by the communities within which they are based. Through an alternative set of social norms – not informing the police about criminal activities, being introduced to crime through family members, and aspiring to be involved in serious criminality – a symbiotic relationship exists between these communities and criminal gangs. Subsequently, a high level of violence is normalised within such communities, including heightened levels of weapon usage by gang members, both within and outside prison
Gangs behind bars: fact or fiction?
Get PDFThe growth of street gangs in England has led to widespread public and governmental concern, as well as heightened academic interest (Pitts 2008). However, the extent to which such gangs have penetrated English prisons is a question which remains largely unexplored. This research aims to fill the gap existing in the current body of academic work. Through conducting a semi-ethnographic study of a large local prison in the North of England, this study compares the structuration of English prison gangs with their street counterparts. The study employs a qualitative methodology, principally drawing its conclusions from interviews conducted with prisoners. Using an inductive approach, the study’s findings are placed within the wider body of literature on criminal gangs and delinquent behaviour. The results indicate that a significant number of gangs have been imported from ‘the street’ into the sample-site prison. There is a clear continuation of street gang identities within the prison, leading its administration to acknowledge their existence, and to create strategies which moderate their influence on the prison environment
Voices of quiet desistance in UK prisons: exploring emergence of new identities under desistance constraint
No full textThe article explores desistance dynamics within prison, and what gang members say about its phenomenology. Qualitative methodology was adopted with research participants in English and Scottish prisons. The findings indicate desistance oriented dispositions develop gradually once gang ties, originating in the street gang, lose the resonance they once exercised on conformity to offending behaviour. This liberation from oppression means not merely that gang members are de facto left to fend for themselves, but also to find a liminal space in which to thrive. It gives them an opportunity to learn and develop pro-social values. Spirituality, a source of personal meaning, supports progression to desistance and fosters distance from the street self. Gang members’ loyalties and conflicts pre-dating incarceration challenge the potential of prison to break criminogenic ties and foster desistance
‘If You’re Down With a Gang Inside, You Can Lead a Nice Life’: Prison Gangs in the Age of Austerity
No full textIn many countries, there has been growing academic attention towards the activities of street and prison gang members. However, while much of the American literature explores the experiences of prison gang members, such investigation has been notably absent in the English context. This article seeks to address this deficit in the literature. Through gathering data from interviews with active prison gang members, it shows how reduced staffing levels in English prisons has led to an increasingly ‘ungovernable’ prison space. This, in turn, has led to an increase in levels of gang membership. Most notably, the high numbers of street gangs ‘imported’ into prisons has had the unintended effect of creating several ‘in prison’ gangs, which form for the first time in prison, with their members seeking protecting from more established gangs. This proliferation of gangs has had a significant impact on rates of in-prison violence, and how prisons are managed
County lines and the transformation of middle drug markets within a local organised crime context
No full textThe chapter draws upon a critical realist analysis to demonstrate recent changes in the UK Middle Market of Class A drugs and responses to them. The chapter contends that previous definitions of the "middle market" specified from agencies charged with disruption have overly relied upon definitions which best suit the professionals involved to the detriment of young and vulnerable people caught up in what has become known as County lines. The chapter provides a new analysis of this part of the distribution network and discusses criminal exploitation and transitions of some street gangs to local organised crime networks
“For Me, They Were the Good Old Days”: Retrospective Narratives of Childhood Experiences in ‘the Gang’
Get PDFMuch of the existing scholarship on gang membership predominantly focuses on adolescence as being the formative time period for the development of gang identities; however, there has thus far been more limited attention towards the childhood experiences of gang members, (i.e., pre-adolescence). The organising principle of this paper is to articulate the retrospective accounts of gang members’ childhoods, and how these recollections form a central role to the emergence of gang identities. The data presented in this paper were collected during fieldwork in two adult, men’s prisons in England; interviews were conducted with 60 active and former prison gang members, identified through prison databases; a small number (n = 9) of interviews were conducted with ‘street’ participants, such as ex-offenders, outreach workers and gang researchers. This paper aims to show that many gang members romanticise accounts of their childhoods, in spite of often having experienced adverse childhood experiences:, so too do many gang members view their childhood experiences as part of their mythologised narrative of life in ‘the gang’. Nevertheless, a tension exists between how gang members seek to portray their childhood experiences around gangs and the negative labelling and strain they experienced during their childhood; often, romanticised accounts seek to retrospectively neutralise these harms. In so doing, the lens through which childhood gang membership is viewed is one which conceptualises childhood gang involvement as being something non-deleterious, thus acting as a lens that attempts to neutralise the harms and vicissitudes of gang affiliation
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