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| Prison Gang Uses Lawsuits to Fund Activities |
| By KPIX |
| Published: 02/04/2002 |
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A lot of people were shocked to learn that the dogs that killed a California woman last year were actually the property of California prison inmate Paul Schneider. But according to investigators who monitor prison gangs, they shouldn't be. Making money, owning property, and even bankrolling businesses outside of prison walls is a phenomenon of the new Aryan Brotherhood. Devon Hawkes is a gang expert with the California Department of Corrections. He says as recently as the 1980s, the Aryan Brotherhood still controlled much of the methamphetamine trade in California prisons. 'They controlled lots of drug traffic. They were also directing assaults on other inmates not doing their will,' Hawkes said. 'White inmates operating in mainlines are expected to contribute profits. At one time, the Aryan Brotherhood controlled much of the mainlines.' But that was before the construction of isolation units like Pelican Bay, where prison officials began segregating the gangs' leaders about ten years ago. 'Since isolated housing, other groups have stepped in, so not all profits are going to the Aryan Brotherhood,' Hawkes said. 'They've had to adjust to other ways of getting income. Litigation has been the focus, these days, of getting money.' What kind of litigation? Hawkes says one Aryan Brotherhood member who managed to slip out of his cell at Pelican Bay and attack another inmate, later sued the department of corrections for shooting him in the arm. That inmate, the department claims,. shared the settlement money with Paul Schneider. Schneider has also sued Corrections multiple times -- including once for being subjected to unnecessary x-rays. They say all this explains where he could get the money to purchase and raise the Presa Canario dogs -- a venture he reportedly spent more than $20,000 dollars on. Attorney Robert Noel was preparing to represent Schneider in yet another suit against Corrections, when the dogs attacked and killed Dianne Whipple. Schneider has denied that the dogs were being bred as a business. But corrections officials say if they were, it would fit a pattern that's even taken some inmates as far as Wall Street. Just to be clear, inmates are not allowed to actually run an outside business themselves. But they can invest their money if other people actually run the enterprise, reaffirming the old adage that 'time is money' -- even when you're doing time. |
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