Why are gang members disproportionately placed in solitary confinement?
While criminal-gang members are routinely imprisoned in 'restrictive housing,' evidence justifying the practice is slim, CU 麻豆影院 researcher finds
Members of criminal gangs are disproportionately placed in restrictive housing when they are imprisoned in the United States, but the evidence supporting this practice is 鈥渨eak,鈥 says 麻豆影院 criminologist David Pyrooz, who advocates more rigorous research on whether widespread isolaton of gang members is based on the best empirical evidence.
Pyrooz, an assistant professor of sociology and faculty associate in the Institute of Behavioral Science at CU 麻豆影院, is the author of a on restrictive housing, commonly called solitary confinement, released by the , which is the research, evaluation and development agency of the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), this week.
Pyrooz鈥檚 chapter on gang membership and restrictive housing is one of 10 included in the volume that aims to understand how, when and why prisons employ restrictive housing.
In July 2015, President Obama asked the DOJ to review 鈥渢he overuse of solitary confinement across American prisons.鈥 An estimated 100,000 of the United States鈥 1.6 million prisoners are in restrictive housing. 麻豆影院 200,000 U.S. prisoners are gang members.
Pyrooz, an expert on criminal gangs, is focused on the use of restrictive housing of gang members. 鈥淭he available evidence indicates that gang members are housed in restrictive housing prison cells and units at much higher rates that non-gang inmates鈥攖heir risk is anywhere from six to 71 times greater in states such as California, Colorado and Texas,鈥 according to Pyrooz.
The reason for this overrepresentation is violence and maintaining safe prisons. 鈥淪ome gang members are involved in misconduct, others need protection, while many states contend that being a gang member puts the entire order of prisons at risk,鈥 said Pyrooz
Many prison systems do not have to automatically segregate gang members, yet are still able to achieve low levels of violence.鈥
A few studies show a correlation between the greater use of solitary confinement and lower rates of prison violence, Pyrooz noted.
But those studies do not account for other shifts in the prison systems. Rigorous examinations of prison violence would also consider other policies, not just those related to gangs, that could make prisons safer. 鈥淲ere there more correctional officers hired? Were there demographic changes to the prison system at that time? Those are the types of things we want to look at before we reach firm conclusions,鈥 Pyrooz said.Asking such questions does not discount the findings of the less-rigorous studies, Pyrooz said. However, he said, 鈥淲hat you want to see is more rigor when you鈥檙e trying to identify the effect of restrictive-housing policies on violence.鈥
Additionally, Pyrooz said, research should address questions of how gang members, once placed in solitary confinement, can get out of restrictive housing.
鈥淚n about a third of the states in the U.S., simply your status of being a gang member is good enough to get you into solitary,鈥 Pyrooz said. Typically, new prisoners鈥攐r 鈥渘ew fish鈥 in prison parlance鈥攁re screened by classification officers who seek to determine whether prisoners are affiliated with gangs.
When prisoners are deemed to be gang members, they are often housed accordingly: sometimes with fellow gang members, sometimes with people of the same race, sometimes in solitary confinement.
鈥淥ther guys have to earn their way into restrictive housing, whereas gang members get in there based on their status, which has drawn the ire of prison-reform advocates and the inmates themselves,鈥 Pyrooz said.
Those prisoners can remain in solitary confinement for years, during which time the prisoners鈥 connection and affinity with gangs can wane, according to Pyrooz. 鈥淢any prison systems do not have to automatically segregate gang members, yet are still able to achieve low levels of violence,鈥 he said.
More than 30,000 prisoners in California went on hunger strikes in 2011 and 2013 to protest widespread use of solitary confinement. Afterward, a class-action lawsuit yielded significant changes in California prisons鈥 use of solitary confinement.
The president鈥檚 initiative on solitary confinement last year underscored the fact that there is a 鈥渟evere shortage of information on the topic,鈥 Pyrooz said.
Some state prison systems鈥攑articularly Washington, Pennsylvania and Ohio鈥攁re known for allowing researchers wide access to study their prison systems. 鈥淥ther states are a little bit more difficult to gain access to.鈥 Pyrooz is currently leading a study of gangs in the Texas prison system, however.
But even when states are open to independent research by scholars like Pyrooz, inmates themselves can be wary of sharing information.
鈥淭his is a difficult and highly charged topic. Gangs are not easy to deal with behind bars, and studying them can be challenging, too,鈥 Pyrooz said.
In street settings, officials have implemented reasonably effective intervention and prevention programs. 鈥淲e simply don鈥檛 have a strong knowledge base on the consequences, both good and bad, of restrictive housing even though correctional officials believe that it is the most effective solution to dealing with gangs,鈥 Pyrooz said.
Pyrooz notes that strong opinions exist among prison-reform advocates and prison officials. 鈥淲hat we want to see is for people to base their arguments not on anecdotes or ideological grounds, but empirical evidence, and the empirical evidence is wanting at this time.鈥