Competing for Control

Fifty-two prisoners in Texas were murdered in a 21-month period in the 1980s. Ninety percent of these deaths were related to gangs, primarily involving intergang conflicts between the Mexican Mafia and Texas Syndicate as well as the Aryan Brotherhood and Mandingo Warriors. Prison gangs exploded onto the scene across the United States around this period, helping usher in what has been called the era of “mass incarceration.” About 15% of the 1.5 million inmates in state and federal prisons are affiliated with gangs.

While there is much speculation about these gangs, there is little solid research on the groups that are believed to operate at the heart of contemporary prisons. "Competing for Control" draws on interviews with 802 inmates — half of whom were gang members — in two Texas prisons, as well as administrative data from the prison system; one of the largest samples of its kind. Using these data, the authors explore how gangs organize and govern, who joins gangs and how prisoners avoid them, how people leave gangs in prison, the dark side of gang activities including misconduct and violence, and the symbiosis between gang activity in prison and on the street.

"Competing for Control" captures the nature of gangs in a time of transition, as prison gangs become more horizontally structured and decentralized and their power more diffuse, while prison reform movements gain momentum.