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| Gang violence on rise in jails |
| By The Star-Ledger |
| Published: 01/12/2004 |
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Gang member Barry James' fate was sealed the day he agreed to testify against another member of the Bloods in a murder case. James was jumped by a group of fellow Bloods as he talked on a pay phone at the Essex County Jail in Newark N.J. One grabbed him around the neck and several more helped drag him into his cell, where he was beaten so badly his skull was fractured and he lapsed into a coma. James' beating was just one example of recent gang violence at both Essex County jails -- the main facility in Newark and the annex in North Caldwell -- as the number of inmate assaults reported to the jails' Internal Affairs Bureau increased from 60 to 86 last year. The spate of inmate beatings has corrections officials second-guessing the policy of keeping like-gang members together in the same cellblocks. Corrections officials also say the opening of the county's new, $416 million hi-tech jail in Newark early this year should alleviate part of the problem because it will give corrections officers better control of the inmates. But for now, gangs, like the Bloods and Crips, remain a big problem at the two jails. Essex County correction officials have identified 315 gang members among the 2,200 inmates in the two facilities, said Lt. Stephen Pringle, who oversees gang intelligence in the jails. To help cut down on intimidation and potential violence, the gang members are separated by affiliation, he said, meaning Bloods are kept with Bloods and Crips are kept with Crips. But the corrections officers union and some law enforcement officials say the county should stop segregating the gangs. They want inmates housed by severity of crimes, with any gang activity or violence punished by prolonged lockdown. Ed Cohn, executive director of the National Major Gang Task Force, an Indianapolis-based coalition of current and former prison officials, said some states have stopped separating members of different gangs. However, he said, ending segregation is more difficult in county jails, which often do not have the resources to implement programs needed to control gangs, such as 23-hour-a-day lockdowns for large numbers of people. |
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