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| Gang Inmates Still Linked to Crime |
| By Associated Press |
| Published: 05/14/2001 |
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Some send orders to kill through the mail, disguised as letters to lawyers. Others use codes or scrawl instructions on scraps of paper for visitors to smuggle out. Despite languishing deep within maximum-security prisons, gang leaders in California have orchestrated hundreds of murders from their cells, authorities say. Late last month, federal prosecutors made their first attempt to curb gang leadership at Pelican Bay State Prison, the state's highest security facility. Five high-ranking Nuestra Familia gang members were indicted for allegedly giving jailhouse orders to kill at least five people between 1997 and 1999. But the state Corrections Department says there's little it can do to stop other killings, ordered by inmates who have nothing to lose and nothing but time. In California, 160,000 people are in prison, another 120,000 are on parole and at least one-third of the total are gang members, said Brian Parry, assistant director of the Corrections Department. Deemed high-risk, most gang leaders at Pelican Bay live in the 1,056-bed 'prison within a prison' known as the security housing unit. They live alone in cells that have a glass wall so that guards can always see inside. They are allowed outside only one hour a day, alone, to exercise in a small concrete yard. Clothing, bedding and personal items are X-rayed before the inmate is put in a cell. Toilets are stainless steel, with no removable parts. Despite such intense security, gang leaders have managed for years to effectively communicate with members and foot soldiers in other prisons and on the outside, prosecutors say. 'We do ourselves a disservice if we talk about gangs. This isn't a bunch of young hoodlums. This is organized crime,' said Cmdr. Scott Swanson of the Santa Rosa Police Department, which traced local murders to Nuestra Familia members at Pelican Bay. Investigators have uncovered 'hit lists' sent through the mail or wrapped in plastic and hand-delivered by parolees who hide the notes in their bodies. Authorities say inmates use elaborate codes, including one based on an ancient Aztec language dialect, or write in urine on the back of innocent-looking drawings. The dried urine remains invisible until held next to a heat source. They even send 'ghost writings,' using a pointed object on the inside of a manila envelope. The recipient rubs pencil lead lightly over the markings to read the message. 'Here is the most secure prison in California and this is what's happening inside the walls,' Swanson said. 'I don't want to be a politician and say it's a crisis. I would prefer to let the facts speak for themselves. 'But when you talk about a criminal enterprise that's been responsible for hundreds of murders over the years and thousands of robberies, extortions and what it does to the community. Is that a crisis? You decide,' he said. Prison officials say it's impossible to monitor every single letter, phone call and visit of every inmate. Prisoner advocates point out that inmates have rights and can't be stopped from communicating. 'I don't think other states have as big a problem as California does,' Parry said. 'The volume is what is difficult to deal with, plus we don't have the space to move them around like we used to.' |
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