tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4719012071897568245.post362786878190273215..comments2023-09-27T01:47:43.438-07:00Comments on Hook'em and Book'em: GangsAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16391660618856607784noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4719012071897568245.post-87724274608998261392010-03-09T22:14:08.258-08:002010-03-09T22:14:08.258-08:00Thank you for the explanation. As I said, I know z...Thank you for the explanation. As I said, I know zip about prisons. But something is deeply wrong here. We incarcerate a tremendous number of people, really bad things happen in prison (I just read the 2 articles on prison rape in New York Review), and then we turn them out. More funding and better facilities would help, but there have got to be other options as well. This is a real black eye to the US. I'd love to read more about it.Ann Littlewoodhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08646388677233865578noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4719012071897568245.post-11116118327380507942010-03-09T20:44:54.642-08:002010-03-09T20:44:54.642-08:00Good questions, Ann. Many of these prisons are run...Good questions, Ann. Many of these prisons are running at 200 percent over capacity. This fact alone is staggering when authorities are trying to keep the lid on violence. Here are some of the challenges faced by those running the prisons:<br /><br />•Many groups of people who need to be separated from each other—rival gangs; gang member within the same gang vying for power with their gangs; PC inmates (those needed protection because they testified against other inmates or gangs) need special housing to stay alive; inmates with sexual orientation that conflicts with the mainstream need protection; child molesters need protection against the main population; those who are aging or weak need to be separated from those would might prey up.<br /><br />•Facilities that are aging or filled to the max, no longer equipped to handle all these rival groups.<br /><br />•Trying to maintain control while still allowing inmates constitutional rights such as legal counsel; access to law libraries; access to courts when scheduled to appear; right to subpoena (and sometimes sit down with witness) regarding ongoing court trials; access to medical attention; and other rights or privileges granted to inmates.<br /><br />All these factors create a nightmare for prison authorities in trying to keep the violence to a minimum. Every time an inmate exercises one of these rights—access to law library, for example—security is breached, messages are passed, conversation are conducted, gang strategies furthered. I’ve seen video tapes from Pelican Bay maximum security prison where prisons—isolate f.rom each other—are able to “fish” lines of cloth to each other passing messages, weapons, and narcotics to each other.<br /><br />And lastly, Ann—since you worked in a zoo—you can understand what happens to man or animal when they are crowded into a cage. Violence inevitable erupts.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16391660618856607784noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4719012071897568245.post-67558220039832425642010-03-09T19:50:26.813-08:002010-03-09T19:50:26.813-08:00OK, I'm an ex-zoo keeper and know nothing at a...OK, I'm an ex-zoo keeper and know nothing at all about prisons. Naive question coming up! How is it that prison management has so little control over prisoners? I'm sure overcrowding makes it more complicated to determine who gets to talk to whom, which people are housed together, etc., but apparently gangs, murder, rape, etc. are problem in all prisons. Why is that, given that these people are confined and controlled?Ann Littlewoodhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08646388677233865578noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4719012071897568245.post-62491870705738141882010-03-09T18:56:46.772-08:002010-03-09T18:56:46.772-08:00Interesting interview and scary information. As a ...Interesting interview and scary information. As a middle class American you remove yourself from such places, but it brings home that it is everyone's responsibility to change the situation now, or everyone's problem later on.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com