Gangs in Prison:
The nature and impact of gang
involvement among prisoners
Executive Summary
October 2014
Emily Setty with Rachel Sturrock and Elizabeth Simes
A forward looking social business, Catch22 has more
than 200 years’ experience of providing public services
that help people turn their lives around. We work with
troubled and vulnerable people, helping them to steer
clear of crime or substance misuse, do the best they can
in education or employment and play a full part in their
family or community.
The Catch22 Dawes Unit brings together research,
policy and practice in order to understand how to
reduce the harm caused by gangs and gang-related
crime.
Gangs in Prison Executive Summary
1
Research Context
The concept of the ‘prison gang’ brings to
mind highly-structured American supergangs, nurtured in mega-prisons with
low surveillance levels and a high degree
of prisoner control.
In the UK, supervision levels are higher
and prisons are smaller, making a similar
situation unlikely to occur. However,
recently researchers and policy makers
have started asking questions about the
impact of gangs in UK prisons.
Emerging evidence suggests that
gang-involvement in UK prisons
manifests through associations which
can be territorial but tend to be fairly
fluid.1 These associations are often
formed dynamically in response to the
institutional environment. While studies
have found evidence of group-related
misconduct within prisons, there is
little evidence of structured gangs that
replicate or connect to street gangs.2,3
This study explores how prisoners
considered to be involved in gangs in the
community develop associations and
allegiances in a London-based prison. It
examines the nature of gangs in prison,
their impact on the regime and the
possibilities for violence reduction and
rehabilitation.
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Gangs in Prison Executive Summary
Methodology
The research was carried out in HMP
Thameside, a local, category B prison
in London, using a combination of
qualitative and quantitative methods.
These included:
•
•
•
semi-structured interviews with 19
prisoners considered to be involved
in gangs in the community. The
sample comprised remand and
sentenced prisoners, prisoners
who had been in prison for between
two to four weeks, and three to six
months. This ensured a breadth of
experiences and perspectives were
captured
semi-structured interviews
with prison staff, including a
representative from the wings, the
violence reduction team and the
gangs team
analysis of incidents of violence and
misconduct in HMP Thameside. This
was to explore whether prisoners
considered to be involved in gangs
are disproportionately likely to be
involved in violence
Nature and strength
of gang allegiances
in prison
‘You’ll be happy today, tomorrow
you’ll be sad. You’ll be sad for a
couple of days and then you will
be happy. But only one thing here
you’ve got some good friends in
here that always look out for me’
(Prisoner)
•
There is no evidence that ganginvolved prisoners are simply recreating gangs within the prison
•
For gang-involved prisoners, being
from the same area provides a
short-cut to believing another
prisoner could be trusted
•
Where prisoners have stronger
connections to gangs in the
community, territorial associations
can lead to conflict with those from
other areas
Friendships in prison can offer prisoners
a sense of meaning and belonging in
an environment often experienced as
threatening and insecure. In this way,
associations made in prison are part
of the normal adaptation to the trials
and tribulations of prison life. Prisoners
describe helping each other through
lending money, food, cigarettes, and
even helping write letters if an individual
struggles with literacy.
For gang-involved prisoners, being from
the same area is often a primary factor
in developing associations. It provides a
short-cut to knowing whether another
prisoner can be trusted and relied
upon to ‘have your back’. However, this
process of developing associations is
dynamic, and prisoners respond to the
conditions encountered in the prison
environment. The boundaries of a
prisoners’ ‘area’ can be enlarged if there
were a few fellow prisoners from their
immediate community.
There is no evidence that gang-involved
prisoners are simply re-creating gangs
within the prison. However, where
prisoners have stronger connections to
gangs in the community, they are often
far more territorial in the way they form
relationships and allegiances in prison.
These relationships and allegiances
are often characterised by hostility
and opposition toward those deemed
‘enemies’ from ‘rival’ areas.
Gangs in Prison Executive Summary
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Research Context
Impacts of gangs in
prison
evidence from this study that gangs are
controlling contraband markets or other
aspects of the prison regime.
Managing gangs and
encouraging gang exit
aware of time passing them by while they
are in prison and others are moving on
with their lives.
‘… If I told them yeah, I’m not
from this gang and then they go
and house me in a bit where I’m
with my rival gang. You have a
problem.’ (Prisoner)
Rather, prisoners with stronger
connections to gangs in the community
tend to create hostile, territorial
associations leading to conflict and
aggression as they play out the struggle
for status, respect and reputation.
‘… when man go to jail there’s
no nothing, no letters, there’s no
nothing and there’s no keeping
in touch… But when you’re out
they want to be interested again.’
•
Prisoners and staff agree that the
primary impact of gangs in custody
is in creating conflict
•
•
The impact of this conflict can be
wide-reaching, escalating to involve
prisoners who may not have been
party to the original dispute. Titfor-tat retaliation can also occur as
prisoners feel compelled to stand
their ground and show loyalty to
others
The impact of these conflicts can be
wide-reaching, escalating to involve
prisoners who may not have been
party to the original dispute. Tit-for-tat
retaliation can also occur as prisoners
feel compelled to stand their ground
and show loyalty to others.
The influence on prisoners of fellow gang
members in the community is reduced
and prisoners describe struggling to
maintain these relationships in prison.
Prisoners often express a realisation that
‘road friends’ may not be ‘true friends’ they
can rely upon. This was particularly the
case when they felt they had ‘gone down’
for a crime committed with others.
•
Prison incident data shows that
gang-involved prisoners are
disproportionately more likely to be
involved in violent incidents
Prisoners and staff agreed that the
primary impact of gangs in custody is
in creating conflict. There is no clear
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Research Context
Gangs in Prison Executive Summary
Analysis of prison incident data confirms
that conflict is the main impact of
gangs in custody. Gang-involved
prisoners are disproportionately more
likely to be involved in violent incidents
in prison, including assaults, fights
and weapon-related incidents. They
are disproportionately less likely to
be involved in self-harm incidents,
suggesting that gang-involved
prisoners may be more inclined toward
externalising rather than internalising
their issues.
(Prisoner)
There are clear ‘teachable moments’
for prisoners as they reflect on the
impact of gang-involvement on their
lives
•
The influence on prisoners of fellow
gang members in the community is
clearly reduced. Prisoners described
struggling to maintain these
relationships in prison.
•
Gang-involved prisoners are likely
to respond well to interventions
that bring prisoners together in a
controlled way
There are clear ‘teachable moments’ for
prisoners as they reflect on the impact of
gang-involvement on their lives and begin
to question it. Regardless of strength of
gang affiliation, prisoners were emphatic
that they did not want to come back to
custody. Imprisonment is experienced as
a ‘waste of time’ and prisoners are acutely
The prison system has a key role to
play in capitalising on these teachable
moments to encourage gang exit and
reduce the likelihood that prisoners will
create problematic groupings in custody.
The findings indicate that gang-involved
prisoners are likely to respond well
to interventions that bring prisoners
together in a controlled way, opening
up rehabilitation options for them, and
reducing the likelihood of conflict. Staff feel their lack of control over the
environments prisoners are released to is
the key barrier to making lasting change
for gang-involved prisoners. Whilst
recognising that prisoners may wish to
change and leave gangs, they see that this
will be very challenging for them when
they return to difficult environments in
which their gang is operating.
Gangs in Prison Executive Summary
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Conclusions
There is no evidence that ganginvolved prisoners are recreating
formal, structured gang associations,
mimicking those found on the street.
However, prison is a unique social
world into which prisoners import
attitudes, allegiances and loyalties
from the community. Those with strong
affiliations to gangs import a territorial
mentality to their relationships, creating
exclusive and hostile affiliations in
opposition to perceived ‘enemies’.
As prisoners from competing groups
seek to establish dominance and
status over one another, conflict can
escalate creating a messy and widereaching chain of events. While there
is no evidence of gangs controlling
contraband markets or other aspects
of the prison, it is clear from the data
that gang-involved prisoners are
over-represented in violence-related
incidents.
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Gangs in Prison Executive Summary
However, the research highlighted a
number of ‘teachable moments’ for
gang-involved prisoners. All prisoners
tend to be emphatic that they do not
want to come back into custody. As
relationships with fellow gang members
in the community are weakened,
their time in custody is a window of
opportunity for rehabilitation. It is clear
from the research that if gang issues
are managed carefully in prisons, there
is a chance to bring people together
in a controlled way to reduce violence
in prisons and support gang-exit and
rehabilitation in prison and through the
gate.
Gangs in Prison Executive Summary
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Recommendations
1 Identify ganginvolved prisoners
The first step to addressing gang
involvement among prisoners is the
development of a clear process of
identification.
•
•
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Gangs in Prison Executive Summary
NOMS (national offender
management service) should
develop a standardised
assessment tool for prisons to use
when identifying gang-involved
prisoners, and encourage better
recording of gang-involvement
on the prison national offender
management information system
(p-NOMIS).
Prisons should develop
information-sharing agreements
with external criminal justice
agencies and across the prison
estate to aid the identification of
gang-involved prisoners. NOMS
should support this process by
facilitating the development of
information-sharing agreements
to include police forces across the
country and all prisons.
•
A dedicated worker or team within
prisons could aid the process of
identifying gang-involved prisoners
and share this with other prison
establishments.
2 Conduct a needs
assessment
A needs assessment would help to
establish the nature and impact of gang
involvement in different establishments
•
NOMS, in partnership with the
Home Office ending gangs and
youth violence (EGYV) team, should
develop a standardised process
for assessing gang involvement in
prison that can be applied across
different establishments.
•
The assessment should be
conducted locally, by a trained and
experienced worker or team who
understand the local context.
Gangs in Prison Executive Summary
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Recommendations
3 Take pre-emptive
action
As a needs assessment and better
information sharing provide prisons with
more information to draw on, this can
be used pro-actively to prevent conflict
arising.
•
•
•
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Prisons should draw together
information about gang-involved
prisoners and associated conflict
from different parts of the prison
establishment. This process could
be supported by a dedicated worker
or team acting as a point of contact
within the prison.
Pre-emptive action should include
separating prisoners initially
who may engage in conflict, and
monitoring events occurring in the
community.
Professional mediators should be
used to address issues between
prisoners from rival gangs, challenge
misperceptions and break down
barriers
Gangs in Prison Executive Summary
Recommendations
•
NOMS should develop gangs
training for prison officers, to
improve their understanding of the
underlying mentality and drivers
of gang involvement and related
behaviour.
•
With the introduction of
resettlement prisons, a dedicated
local expert gangs worker or team
should be embedded in prisons in
the EGYV hotspot areas.
4 Address conflict
Where pre-emptive action fails
to prevent conflict arising, active
intervention and analysis can help to
reduce the intensity of the situation and
the likelihood of tit-for-tat retaliation.
•
A trained mediator should be
appointed to draw out the causes
of the conflict and encourage
prisoners to address the conflict in
a positive manner.
•
Prisons should intensively analyse
all violent incidents investigating
who was involved, how others may
be linked to the incident and how
incidents may be linked together.
This could be supported by a
dedicated gangs worker or team,
with expertise in understanding
group dynamics.
•
As resettlement prisons are
introduced, consistency of
relationships through the gate for
gang-involved prisoners should be
prioritized, ensuring that prisoners
stay in contact with the same
worker as much as possible.
5 Develop rehabilitation
programmes
Rehabilitation programmes can
capitalise on ‘teachable moments’ in
which prisoners may be questioning
their gang involvement and considering
gang exit.
•
A dedicated worker or team should
be appointed to deliver one-to-one
and group work programmes. This
intervention should be based on the
individual needs of prisoners. Ganginvolved prisoners who are quieter
or who do not engage in outwardly
problematic behaviour may
nevertheless still require support.
•
Older prisoners were found to be
more likely to be questioning their
gang involvement and should
therefore be placed in role model
positions for younger prisoners.
Gangs in Prison Executive Summary
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References
Phillips, C. (2013). ‘It ain’t nothing like
America with the Bloods and the Crips’:
Gang narratives inside two English prisons.
Punishment and Society, 14(1), pp. 51-68
1
Alleyne, E. and Wood, J.L. (2010). Gang
involvement: psychological and behavioural
characteristics of gang members,
peripheral youth, and nongang youth.
Aggressive Behaviour, 36(42), pp. 423-436
2
Wood, J. L., Alleyne, E., Mozova, K. and
James, M. (unpublished). Does being a
street gang member lead to prison gang
involvement: links and psychological
mechanisms
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Gangs in Prison Executive Summary