Dangerous Convictions for PDF - ADL

Dangerous
Convictions:
AN INTRODUCTION TO EXTREMIST ACTIVITIES IN PRISONS
problems are those that the prison environment itself generates. Some of the
dynamics of prison life lead naturally to the formation within prison of groups
that possess extreme or hate-filled beliefs. The major internal sources of
extremism within prisons are prison gangs. Over time, these gangs have adapted
to their institutional confines and are able to use the social conditions of
prison life to their advantage. Inmates entering the system are easily recruited
into prison gangs, primarily because such gangs offer “protection” to prisoners
as well as access to avenues of criminal activity. Racist prison gangs may
also capitalize on, and sharpen, existing prejudices and hatreds held by incoming
prisoners. These gangs, long a part of prison life, tend to form along racial
or ethnic lines and use racism to recruit and fuel their activities, often indoctrinating
new members with violent bigoted rhetoric and a strong animosity
toward other races, beliefs that may stay with them once they are released into
society. These gangs jeopardize the stability of the nation’s penitentiaries, presenting
a threat to corrections officials and the general inmate population, and
may well endanger the community to which they eventually return—as the
murder of James Byrd Jr. readily demonstrates.
External problems are those caused by the insertion of extremists into the
prison environment. Extremists who commit crimes, in furtherance of their
cause or otherwise, may receive prison sentences. However, there is little to
stop them from continuing their activities from behind prison walls. In fact,
such inmates are often more committed to an ideology of racial supremacy
than members of prison gangs, who tend to join such gangs for reasons other
than ideological conviction. In addition to white, black, or other racial
extremists, other sorts of ideological extremists often end up behind bars.
Most notably, members of right-wing, anti-government movements such as
the militia movement, the “sovereign citizen” movement, and the tax-protest
movement often end up in prison for transgressions against the law. But leftwing
extremists as well, particularly adherents of radical environmental and
animal rights groups, also often end up in prison.
The presence of such extremists in prisons poses particular problems. Bank
robbers cannot rob banks in prisons, but ideological extremists still can pursue
their goals in many ways. A few may even welcome imprisonment as a
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