It seems to me that CERTAIN prisons would benefit from being racially segregated. I frequently read about state and federal prisons where all inmates are divided along racial lines, and where black, Hispanic and white gangs all fight each other.
How is this situation in any way preferable to there being one cell block for whites, one for Hispanics, one for blacks, one for Asians (in areas with high numbers of Asian immigrants in prison), and one for other races that don’t fit into the other categories?
I get the impression that there is constant racial tension (in other words, racism) between prisoners in many prisons. White prison gangs like the various Aryan groups seem to have been formed just because whites needed a way to project power and danger to other races in prisons where white inmates are a minority.
Wouldn’t it be better for everyone if these prisons were just racially segregated? Before anyone jumps on me for this suggestion, there’s a huge difference between saying “black people aren’t allowed to eat at this restaurant” and “all these races here in this dangerous, confined space that they cannot leave hate each other and fight each other - let’s split them up.”
Really? Any prison documentary I’ve seen suggests that while gangs are grouped along racial lines, it’s still acceptable to be friendly toward inmates of another race. There also seems to be a lot of self-segregation among prison populations.
And really, how big of a problem is raced based violence compared to non-race based violence?
I doubt it would be legally possible to do so. Brown vs Board of Education, banning segregation along racial lines in the education system, concerned public schools; nonetheless, I guess the principle - and the case law deriving from it - that segregation of races by public bodies is inherently unequal and thus unlawful also applies to prisons.
By certain prisons I just meant prisons with very bad racial divisions (resulting in violence.) I’m under the impression that some prisons are very racially divided and any new inmate is forced to choose a side based on his race, and fraternizing with members of other races will be seen as “traitorous” and you will be attacked for it. I would assume that these prisons are the places where Aryan Brotherhood and other such gangs are the most powerful, and hold a lot of influence over white prisoners. In places like this, you can’t just say “alright, you guys, get along with each other.”
I said certain prisons, as opposed to all prisons, because I think there are facilities where the racial divisions are not so severe and where inmates of different races mix amongst one another freely.
Obviously I don’t know very much about what it’s like inside a prison, so if one of the several people here who do know about it has anything to say, that would be good.
I’m gonna risk a mod warning and just go ahead and say - Who gives a shit? these guys aren’t in for going door to door handing out fuzzy kitties and orgasms.
It is crucial to your survival in the prison system to immediately show your allegiance to your race (but this does not mean you have to join a gang). This may be a big pill for some people to swallow, but “when in Rome” you’d better do as they do. If you are some white suburbanite 19-year-old kid that pledged yourself as a crip, and you used to buy the dope you got busted selling from your crip homeboys in the projects, that doesn’t mean you can link up with them in prison. If you’re white and you walk in slapping high fives with the brothers before you shake hands with the white dudes, you’re going to send a rift through the whole community. This doesn’t mean you have to get a swastika on your forehead or “Blood for Life” tattooed on your chest. It simply means whichever race you are associated with, you seek them out first and introduce yourself. You get to know inmates of your race first. Especially the “important” figures within your race. You can be “friendly” with people of other races after that. In prison, blacks, Mexicans, Chicanos, Asians, and whites all look after their own. This isn’t the time to be colorblind.
What makes you think they wouldn’t just find other lines to divide along?
They are prisoners. The reasons why racial gangs happen is not because of race itself, but because they are in a harsh environment among violent people, and in that situation there are always going to be power structures and protection systems. Race happens to be an easy one, but it could be anything else.
I’ve always been fascinated by the US penal system which primary function seems to be to inflict as much discomfort and punishment upon the inmates as possible, the deterrence effect theory of incarceration if you will. Instilling fear of other inmates by facilitating gang division is the natural extension of this system. As for any negative consequences for the guards, I wouldn’t be surprised if playing different racial groupings against each other isn’t part in parcel in keeping the order in the crowded prisons.
I understand how people can think like this, but suppose this.
Suppose I pass a bad check. OK I deserve to be punished. But I don’t deserve the death penalty or to be beat up daily. Most of us believe let the punishment fit the crime.
But too often we forget, the felons are all mixing violent, non-violent etc etc.
I have known of people who were big thieves. In Illinois the placement guidelines put them in a max security prison based on their crime. Even though it’s non-violent.
The idea is they have to behave well and it they earn the privledge to go to med-secure and minimum security prisons.
In the meantime they are exposed to people that can physically harm them. I don’t believe (but I’m sure others may) that correct. If it is why not just bring back flogging and let them off after a beating. It would save money.
It boggles the mind to think that the worlds premier imprisoner of its citizens, a disproportionate amount from a historically disenfranchised minority would contemplate segregated prisons.
Mind you, the suggestion was not segregation by severity of the crime but by racial makeup. The other notion of, If only the prisoners were murderers, rapist and other assorted scum, why then it would be justified to let them sort themselves out is similarly noxious.