Why do races segregate themselves in prison?

[Leftsolidarity]

Straight forward question. I kind of feel like I know the answer but I would like to hear from users who have spent time in prison so they could say first hand about why the races segregate and how it's like with the different gangs.

[TheGodlessUtopian]

Never been to prison but usual it is for protection from other gangs; the race element is, more or less, a convenient rallying point to gain members from violent areas. Kinda like a micro simulation of how the bourgeoisie divides the working class.

[Sperm-Doll Setsuna]

As far as I understand this is not very common outside of U.S. prisons either? Generally it seems to mimic the division of the outside world.

[harte.beest]

The Nazi's are the biggest gang in prison and it's pretty obvious why there all white

"Nation of Islam" has a very big presence for most black, and middle-eastern people.

Most hispanics stick together regardless of gang affilitation simply because they speak spanish, only ones left are black gangs. I always wondered what Chinese and Indian guys do when they go to jail in America.:lol:

The gangs themselves are racially segregated, but often prisons have been segregated by gang affilliation regardless of race, for example in LA prisons were segregated by the prison gaurds themsleves, by having Bloods on one side, Crips on the other. Bloods and Crips have also become racially mixed with hispanics, asians, and whites so it really has more to do with what gang your in, rather then what race your apart of

There are some prisons that still have Italian and Russian "mafias" and they're usually blood related, for obvious reasons


Henry Hill (Goodfellas):
You know, we always called each other good fellas. Like you said to, uh, somebody, :You're gonna like this guy. He's all right. He's a good fella. He's one of us.: You understand? We were good fellas. Wiseguys. But Jimmy and I could never be made because we had Irish blood. It didn't even matter that my mother was Sicilian. To become a member of a crew you've got to be one hundred per cent Italian so they can trace all your relatives back to the old country. See, it's the highest honor they can give you. It means you belong to a family and crew. It means that nobody can fuck around with you. It also means you could fuck around with anybody just as long as they aren't also a member. It's like a license to steal. It's a license to do anything. As far as Jimmy was concerned with Tommy being made, it was like we were all being made. We would now have one of our own as a member.

[Zav]

It's based on fear, mostly. The origin of the fear of other 'races' is the fear of being alone or without one's kind. Racialism separates the working class more than any nationalist ideology.

[Jimmie Higgins]

In California prisons are legally segregated. "For our own good" they say, but there's deliberate segregation in prisons as a divide and rule tactic. The racial division of prison social organization under gangs also allows the prison system to create a situation where prisoners "police themselves" and organize prisoners along lines other than their common imprisoner.

For people entering prison, grouping together like this, is just to protect themselves and it's the way things are; for the gang leaders the racial segregation system keeps them in power because any other side-line crimes or any bootleg phones or drugs have to be handled through them. So it works out for both prison guards who have "leaders" they can turn to (and not a "united" prison leadership") and it gives the gangs a way to easily divide up contraband markets by race. It's sort of a gang and racial "districting" inside: you can't just go by cell-block because you need trade throughout the prison system, so dividing up the major racial groups works out well for dividing up prisons.

From what I've heard from a friend who was in Ca prison for about 7 years, it's strangely and consciously constructed in its segregation. People of all races talk and hang out together in certain areas, but then there are weird rules about when or where you can do this or not - so you can't go to a white guy's cell if you're black, but if you're both in the hall, then it's all cool. So I think it's clearly a way that the prisons guards and prisoners organize prison life, not based out of bigoted ideas.

All this is reinforced directly by the system both through the legal segregation in some states but also through collective racial punishment by guards. If one mexican get's in a fight with a black guy, there's a "race riot lockdown" and everyone has to go back to their cells or even one specific race has to go back to their cell. I went to visit someone in prison one time and there was a sign on the office that said, "due to unrest, Mexicans are not allowed visitation rights this week". Legally, the prisons can argue is "gang" management not racial collective treatment because of the race-based gang system. Not that the legal aspect matters much, judges ruled that Ca prisons have to integrate a few years ago and different cases decided that prisons were overcrowded, but nothing has come from either of these rulings.

In California prisons people are allowed bandanas and some accessories like that and guess what two colors you can choose from: red and blue. And so the bloods and crips were "red" and "blue" and the Nor and Sur gangs use red or blue as well. Hmmmm.

[DiaperGrandpa]

Very interesting question on a topic I've often thought about as well. While the answer surely is multifaceted and complex, I think Jimmie Higgins has some good insights above.