I don't know if this will help. But I will try my best.

Inmates have two sets of rules. The prison rules and the inmate rules.

They naturally self segregate. They claim this is for 'protection' and if someone jumps a white inmate then the whites will jump in, etc...

Some claim they join gangs for protection. To me, this is pure BS because there are many solo inmates who are not affiliated at all.

Prison gangs operate like street gangs. Drugs, violence, territory etc... It just happens to be on the inside not the outside.

Now some may claim they join gangs for lack of choices for education or rehabilitation, to me, in my opinion, that is crap and is only enabling criminal activity.

The activity these gangs do on the inside is no different than what they did on the outside where they had choices and they chose to be criminals not law abiding citizens. It's that simple. It was their choices that got them on the inside and change has to begin within before it will make a difference. One can change with even the smallest of opportunities.

Some guys go in on a 2 year term and do the bidding of high ranking gang members and end up with life sentences. That isn't the fault of the system, it is in the hands of the beholder. They make choices that put them in those positions.

It is not a prerequisite to join a gang, stab, hurt, injure, or kill inmates and/or officers, have drugs smuggled in, sell them on the yard, etc...those are choices no matter how you look at it.

Now, the hatred just festers. It begins with the core values these individuals were raised with and the self segregation on the side and all that comes with that just makes it worse.

The violence actually increases in the summer months because people are full of hate, fighting over turf or 'things' , fighting over the drug trade, and their fuses are shorter due to the intense heat.

Now,... often times , more than not, these riots are drug or gang related and because they 'self segregate' it is often times blamed on the race card, and after in depth investigation it is over property, drugs, turf, hits, etc... it is just easy to blame it on racism due to it generally being two races fighting.

I'm not just 'generally speaking' here. I am speaking from experience with my cousins and uncles and my knowledge of the programs inmates go through to debrief or leave a gang.

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