A Preliminary
Inventory
Read the full comprehensive report, White
Supremacist Prison Gangs in the United States: A Preliminary Inventory (PDF).
Read the Anti-Defamation League’s letter to
Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch (PDF).
With rising numbers and an increasing
geographical spread, white supremacist prison gangs have been the
fastest-growing segment of the white supremacist movement in the United States
in recent years, accompanied by a related rise in crime and violence.
White supremacist prison gangs are doubly
dangerous in that they combine the criminal knowhow of organized crime with the
bigotry of hate groups. Most of the violence and criminal activity stemming
from white supremacist prison gangs takes the form of traditional
crime, ranging from drugs to murder–but they also engage in hate crimes both
behind bars and on the streets.
What is more, though they are called
“prison” gangs, groups like the Aryan Brotherhood of Texas, Aryan
Circle, European Kindred and others are just as active on the streets of
America as they are behind bars, plaguing not only inmates but local
communities across the whole country. For example, between 2000 and 2015,
one white supremacist prison gang, the Aryan Brotherhood of Texas, was by
itself responsible for at least 33 murders in communities across Texas.
This report serves as a primer on white
supremacist gangs in the United States and the problems they cause, but it is
more than that. It also provides the first state-by-state inventory of such
prison gangs, identifying nearly 100 different active white supremacist prison
gangs. At least 35 states have at least one such gang and many states have to
deal with multiple gangs. In some states, white supremacist prison gangs
seem to be a particular problem, including Texas, California, Oklahoma,
Indiana, Missouri, Oregon, and Tennessee.
Moreover, white supremacist prison gangs are
not only numerous but large. While small gangs, especially in smaller states,
may have no more than a few dozen members, larger white supremacist gangs can
have over 500 members (the Aryan Brotherhood of Texas is reputed to have more
than 2,000). Even these numbers often underestimate the true scope of
such groups because, although most such gangs do not allow women as formal
members, women actually still play a significant role in most of them.
The growth and spread of white supremacist
prison gangs has become one of the United States’ most serious–but least
talked about–white supremacist problems.
Because of the seriousness of the white
supremacist prison gang problem, ADL has written to Attorney General Loretta E.
Lynch with suggestions for policy initiatives that could help the federal
government and the various state governments better deal with the problems
caused by prison gangs of all types.
These include:
– The federal government should track violent prison gangs and
publish a periodic report on the nature and magnitude of the dangers they
pose–both inside correctional facilities and outside.
– The Department of Justice and state corrections officials should
collect statistics on the violent crimes committed by inmates associated with
prison gangs–especially murders and bias-motivated crimes.
– The Department of Justice and state corrections officials should
publish periodic reports on bias-motivated criminal activity behind bars–and
describe what authorities are doing to combat this activity.
– The federal government and states should fund the creation of
law enforcement task forces to address specific Bureau of Prisons and state and
local prison gang problems–both problems behind bars and the impact of these
criminal enterprises outside prison walls.
– The federal government and state corrections officials should
make increased funding available to create and promote “exit”
programs to encourage prison gang members to leave their gangs.
