Extortion in prisons - Research Paper Example

Extortion in Prisons Introduction Existing reports indicate that every year, many inmates face being robbed or extorted by the strong and violent prison offenders (Skarbek, 2011). Although measures have been put by prison officials including serious measures to prevent such crimes, the offenders continue extorting the vulnerable inmates. An average American prison house approximately 2, 500 inmates and it is ridiculous how only 200 correctional officials are assigned per each facility (Schenk & Fremouw, 2012). Therefore, the shortage of the correctional officers gives the room to the prison offenders to predate on the physically and mentally weak inmates who in most cases get away with the crimes. Existing reports, therefore, indicate that some prisoners take advantage of their seniority, knowledge, status as well as other sources of power to extort and victimize the less powerful inmates thus confirming that psychological, physical and sexual violence are some of the vices common in most of the correctional facilities in the United States of America (Skarbek, 2011). Evidence also shows that most of the extortionists have been jailed for serious crimes like theft, assault, aggravated robbery and murder. Most of the offenders belong to some prison gangs who have who profit from such organized crimes thus they continue to thrive despite the existing measures by the prison officials to curb the crimes. Therefore, the essay seeks to identify how the current literature discusses the issue of extortion in prisons with the recommendation of the appropriate policy to help curb such crimes. LITERATURE REVIEW Prison Gangs Existing literature blames the increasing cases of extortion in prisons to prison gang members. By definition, prison gangs are organizations operating within the prison systems where they are self-proclaimed criminal oriented groups (Skarbek, 2011). The gangs also consist of the inmates who have already had a chain of established organization and command. On the other hand, the prison gangs also have a code of conduct that governs their members. The gang members always organize their criminal activities in secret where their aim is to control the prison environment, and they exercise this by intimidate as well as violence directed to the non-members. Therefore, the existence of such gangs is the reason as to why some weak and vulnerable inmates fall victim to extortion where the stronger gangs subject them to all manner of cruel cruelty. Skarbek (2011) argues that part from the gang members, security threat groups are increasingly become common in modern prisons and though there are not always involved in serious crimes, they have also been linked to misconducts in prisons thus the groups may as well classify as part of the gangs within the correctional facilities. A major concern for the prison administrators is how to handle the gang members as they are posing threats not only to the weak inmates but also to the entire security of the prison in general. For instance, Smith, Pendleton and Mitchell (2013) report that a research showed that 74% of the prison gang members were high likely to engage in serious crimes and violation of prison codes as opposed to the non-members. Another research from California Youth Authority confirmed that 30% of the gang members, from the youth gangs, would engage in violent acts like extortion and serious offences against weaker inmates (Smith, Pendleton & Mitchell, 2013). In this case, diverse data sources and research methods have investigated extortion in prisons and confirm that both security threat groups and prison gang members are responsible for such acts like rape, murder, use or possession of deadly weapons among other criminal acts. Nonetheless, there is substantive evident to confirm that the prison gangs are usually troublesome and have the potential of crippling the entire prison system if given the room. For instance, Skarbek (2012) refers a study that found out that the loosening social control in Texas is responsible for the new wave of gang membership and this has increased rates of murder, sex assault, and weapons assault. In this regard, the evidence from the existing literature is enough to substantiate that the prevalence of prison gangs and security threat groups is the main reason behind the increased rates of extortion in the prison systems. Current situation of prison extortion Current statistics indicates that most correctional facilities have been faced with the problems of gang membership, and the number of the cases has increased in the past five years (Skarbek, 2012). In this case, the increasing gang membership has brought challenges to the correctional facilities where they now have to deal with disruptive behaviors, violence and threats to the staff. On the other hand, a survey of most prison systems reveals that they have put in measures to or management strategies to deal with the gang problem (Smith, Pendleton & Mitchell, 2013). However, most of the management strategies still stick to the traditional intervention methods of segregation, and isolation, restrictions on some privileges. Besides, other intervention methods include classification of the gang membership through security ratings or based on the classification scores. A research on some of the correctional facilities also reveals that the prison administrations acknowledge such measures like formal orientation to discourage the new inmates from joining gang membership (Smith, Pendleton & Mitchell, 2013). In this case, prison administrations ensure that they have proper orientation strategies that can also inform the new inmates against becoming part of gang membership. Nonetheless, Skarbek, (2012) indicate that approximately half of the gang members are unaffiliated to any gang when they join the correctional facilities. However, they later join the gangs because they fear other inmates. Research also confirms that other correctional facilities have established gang renunciation programs and those that lack such manage such cases through counselors (Smith, Pendleton & Mitchell, 2013). It is also evident that the most common problem that has been confronting the American prisons is that most of the state jurisdictions lack the necessary resources to combat prison crimes like extortion. On the other hand, Schenk and Fremouw (2012) confirm that the prisons lack enough staff thus they are overworked given the large number of inmates. Besides, the increasing population in most prisons is also a major challenge in reducing the cases of prison extortions and other prison related crimes. How extortions take place In most cases, the extortions victims are sold or traded within the prison gang. In this case, the value of particular inmate being extorted is always based on the how many funds exist in the inmate’s account (Schenk & Fremouw, 2012). Therefore, the more funds the victim receives from the family in the form of donations expose the inmate to extort from the gangs. The implication is that the amount charged for the protection or the protection fee is always charged at a particular price. Nonetheless, the extortionists impose prices on their victims based on the value of the victim. Though most extortionists have been found to charge fair prices for their victims, others take everything that is owned by the particular victim. Interestingly, the extortionists make their move as soon as a new inmate joins the prison system (Skarbek, 2012). They take their time to observe new inmates so that they can find their weakest links. The extortionists are always organized in groups and use both good and bad guy tactics to get to their victims. From the beginning, the extortionist may befriend the newcomer and play the role of being a guardian, and this makes the inmate comfortable before other aggressive gang members join in with threats. Eventually, the self-imposed guardian joins in the pretext saving the victim but has to a charge a price for protection. Extortion Extortion as a crime has traditionally been linked to government officials, but the crime is now being committed by private citizens (Wrage, 2007). Some societies define extortion as acts by the public officials while, on the other hand, blackmail refers to the actions by the private citizens (Smith, Pendleton & Mitchell, 2013). According to Skarbek (2012), extortion occurs when an individual makes the attempt of obtaining money or property failure to which the individual threatens to commit violence against the victim. Therefore, when referring to the term extortion, four elements of threats, intent fear and property must be considered. In this regard, extortion takes because of some form of inflicted fear on the victim (Smith, Pendleton & Mitchell, 2013). The offender states his intention to commit the particular harm or injury (Wrage, 2007). On the contrary, intent in the context of extortion refers to the gain that the offender gets from threatening the victim. Extortion is entirely based on fear thus the threat creates fear on the victim and this can include being afraid to face violence, social stigma, economic loss or anything other thing that has the potential of forcing the victim to surrender his or her property (Smith, Pendleton & Mitchell, 2013). Property is another aspect of extortion, and this refers to the property that the offender seeks to gain. In the case of prison extortion, money is always the property involved that the victim provides to avoid facing violence or any form of retaliation. Policies to reduce extortion in prisons Countries have been struggling to enact the best and the most efficient legislations to reduce extortion in the prison cells. However, it is upon the prison administrations to come up with the appropriate policies to manage the inmates so as to reduce the extortion rates (Schenk & Fremouw, 2012). One of the policies that is fast becoming popular with prison administrations in blocking of the mobile phone services in prisons. In Honduras, for instance, the security forces have already blocked cell phone services, and the move has been successful in reducing criminal cases in most prisons (Wrage, 2007). Blocking of the cell phone services has been found necessary in controlling the activities of gang members since the senior offenders use the devices to communicate and control gang movements. On the other hand, prison extortions are not only directed to the inmates but also the public in general (Schenk & Fremouw, 2012). In most cases, the serious offenders in the prisons use cell phones to extort the public by issuing threats. However, a move to block the cell phone services has also been characterized by the reduction in the rates of inmates extorting money from the public. Nonetheless, the cell phones may provide an easy way through which inmates communicate and get donations from their families and use a protection fee. In this case, blocking the communication services implies that there is no way the inmates get money from their families. Effects of extortion on the victims Schenk and Fremouw (2012) are of the claim that extortion is associated with violence which is a major problem in the prison cells. Throughout the history, the American prisons have reported a lot of murder cases and coupled with numerous inmate attacks. In this case, prisoners always live in constant fear. However, this fear attack has the potential of exposing the inmates to serious psychological and mental problems. Reports indicate that inmates who have been victims to violence threat show signs of depression, headaches, constipation and other psycho-physiological effects (Smith, Pendleton & Mitchell, 2013). Threats or victimization also expose the vulnerable inmates to helplessness and low self-esteem. On the other hand, constant psychological stress is also responsible for impairing the physical status of the individual. Besides, the effects are serious considering that many of the victims are always young and fresh to in the prisons thus the extortion practices can leave devastating effects that would last for their entire lives (Skarbek, 2012). Furthermore, the effects of victimization calls for urgent solutions to address the problem least the number of murders and rapes increase in the prisons in any case the victim fails to pay the protection fee (Skarbek, 2011). Policies to reduce prison extortion According to the existing reports, most of the correctional facilities lack security officials who can serve the overpopulated prisons. In this case, the first and imminent policy that can address the problem of prison extortion is proper staffing of the correctional facilities so that the ratio between the prison security staff and the inmates can be increased (Schenk & Fremouw, 2012). Besides, it is imperative to control the number of inmates from the corridors of justice. The implication is that prisons are full with petty offenders who could otherwise be served with lesser jail terms so as to ease the dangers of overpopulation in prisons since this is the major cause of rising gang numbers. Therefore, the judiciary ought to come up with the solutions of having many petty offenders in the prison cells while there are other punishments they can as well serve (Smith, Pendleton & Mitchell, 2013). In fact, the petty offenders are the most vulnerable as they are not like the hardcore criminals who have stayed long enough in the prison cells to become members of particular gangs. In this case, the courts or the judicial systems should come up with the policies or alternative punishments for the petty offenders. For instance, the petty offenders can be assigned community services so as to ease the population in the correctional facilities. Another policy that is quickly gaining ground in correctional facilities is blocking of the cell phone services (Schenk & Fremouw, 2012). The implication is that prison administrations should block the cell phone services since they are the means of communication and coordination among the gangs. The senior gang members use smuggled cell phones to control their members but cutting down the services will provide a hitch to their communication thus the need for an effective policy to reduce gang activities in the prisons. From the literature search, it is evident that correctional facilities that have adopted the policy of blocking mobile cell services are already recording reduction in the rates of extortions and other criminal related activities in the prisons. Most importantly, extortions can only reduce if the correctional facilities adopt the policy of separation where the serious or hardcore offenders are separated from other vulnerable inmates (Schenk & Fremouw, 2012). The implication is that almost every inmate is vulnerable in the prisons thus separation would solve the crisis because the gang members are even capable of extorting money from rival gangs. For instance, the prisons can have a policy that all the newcomers or fresh inmates are not subjected to cruelty from the hardcore inmates because such threats also encourage them to join the rival gangs in future. In this regard, it is vital to develop a policy that ensures that the fresh inmates are properly oriented with proper counseling so that they do not end up joining the prison gangs (Skarbek, 2012). The orientation programs should also be given to the hardcore criminals because they stay in the gangs to survive, but such initiative may help in creating awareness on how best to co-exist in the prison situation. Moreover, policies of managing gang membership in prisons should also include renunciation programs that seek to encourage the inmates to denounce their gangs. The prison administration can collaborate with some community organizations to provide guidance and counseling to the inmates so that they can change their way of life (Schenk & Fremouw, 2012). Recommendations From the literature search, it is highly recommendable for the state governments to come up with the appropriate measures of controlling prison populations since the growing number of inmates is the reason behind increased violence and crime in the correctional facilities (Skarbek, 2012). Therefore, the first approach or measure by the state governments is to ensure that there is a proper allocation of resources to manage the correctional facilities, and this involves increasing the number of the correctional officers. Another first-hand solution is by introducing isolation of the inmates in a bid to reduce their interactions since free movement exposes the vulnerable inmates to the offenders (Schenk & Fremouw, 2012). Besides, the correctional facilities should follow the move by the Honduras prison officers that blocked the mobile phone services in the prisons because it is an effective measure to reduce gang organization and communication. Most importantly, it is highly recommendable for the correctional facilities to adopt policies that ensure that new inmates are properly orientated so as to avoid joining the gangs. Also, separation of the inmates is necessary, and the prison administrations should isolate gang members that are potential threat to other members or the weak newcomers. Conclusion In summary, prison extortion has become a serious challenge to modern correctional facilities but all is to be blamed on the prevalent of the prison gangs and security threat groups. A search of the existing literature reveals that extortions occur for monetary gain where the victim offers to pay for protection against violence from senior offenders. On the other hand, the literature review shows that some measures have always been taken to reduce extortions including gang renunciation, proper orientation of the inmates, isolation and reconsidering the jail terms for the petty offenders so as to reduce overcrowding in the prison cells. Therefore, it is recommendable to introduce policies that will hinder the communication between the gang members especially cell phone services. Besides, correctional facilities can only record low number of extortion cases when there are incentives from the government to allocate more resources for staffing. Most importantly, separation and isolation of the inmates is necessary to reduce the extortions. References Schenk, A. M., & Fremouw, W. J. (2012). Individual characteristics related to prison violence: A critical review of the literature. Aggression and Violent Behavior, 17(5), 430-442. Skarbek, D. (2011). Governance and prison gangs. American Political Science Review, 105(04), 702-716. Skarbek, D. (2012). Prison gangs, norms, and organizations. Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 82(1), 96-109. Smith, P. K., Pendleton, E., & Mitchell, H. (2013). Bullying and anti-bullying policies: a young offender institution and an adult prison. Bullying among Prisoners, 109. Wrage, A. A. (2007). Bribery and Extortion: Undermining Business, Governments, and Security. Greenwood Publishing Group. Read More