9.14. Current Issues in Corrections: War on Drugs and Gangs
9.14. Current Issues in Corrections: War on Drugs and Gangs
David Carter
The war on drugs, initiated by President Nixon in 1971, was framed as an all-out war to eradicate drugs in the United States. The massive expenditures on the curtailment of the drug epidemic also shifted our views on drug use. We became much more punitive towards drugs, treating it as more of a criminal justice issue, rather than as a substance dependence issue. Good or bad, drug use was demonized in the public and media, which aided in the development of much tougher sanctions on drug use in America. The Drug Enforcement Agency was created in 1973, to provide another arm of the government to tackle a specific issue, drugs. By the 1980s, lengthy sentences for drug possession were also in place. One to five-year sentences for possession were increased to upwards of 25 years. There was also an increased focus on gangs, which were held responsible for the majority of the drug trade in the United States.
Gang activity in the United States was prevalent long before the enactment of the war on drugs. However, once the linkages between our fear of crime, and the drug trade by gangs became more pronounced due to the war on drugs, the conflict escalated. While there are hundreds of different gangs in many neighborhoods and communities in the United States today, gangs in prison have converged into four main gangs, or what corrections call security threat groups. These four basic gangs include the Whites, the Blacks, the Southerners (Surenos, or EME), and the Northerners (Nortenos). Not only are these STGs considered violent inside and outside of prison, but they are also actively involved in the continuing drug trade in the United States today, even behind bars. Many of the leaders of all of the gangs on the streets are held in one prison in California, Pelican Bay State Prison.
Within the prisons in the United States, gangs actively recruit members, communicate with gangs on the streets, run the drug trade, and are also at war with each other over the power within the institutions, from their perspective. There have been numerous documentaries on gangs in the U.S., and even mainstream films about gangs and gang life, both inside and out. A few notable examples of films to watch on this subject include Felon (2008), Shot Caller (2017), and American Me (1992).
Transcreation
At the same time, the proliferation of gangs was occurring in prisons in the United States, there was another sizeable increase of prisoner type, mentally ill inmates. This is due to the transinstitutionalization that occurred for thousands during the late 1970s, and 1980s. Transinstitutionalization, or transcarceration is a process that occurred for many with mental health issues when State-run mental health facilities began to close their doors. Having few choices of where to go, many became homeless or destitute. Ultimately, these individuals wound up in America’s jails and prisons. This is also compounded by ho