Inmates, Riots, and Gangs Riots and gangs in prison are a large problem but have become a norm in the western prison system. There has been a major shift of how many women have been incarcerated since the 1980s and there are a few factors as to why this might be, when compared to men. Along with the increase in women imprisonment, the increase of influence gangs have over the prison system is momentous.
Women in prison
While the number of incarcerated males is vastly superior, the rate of women in prison has soared in the last fifty years. Since 1980, the rate in which women were incarcerated has quadrupled from every 11 in 100 women to every 56 in 100 women,why is this? It seems an economic and societal shift is to blame for such an increase
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The first recorded American prison riot occurred in the early 1970’s in New York at the Attica prison and the reasons for rioting prisoners seem to have stayed the same for the next fifty one years. The prison riot then was caused over political rights not being granted to them and for better living conditions,during this conflict ten correctional officers died. Reasons for prison riots in the modern day included by criminal law author and practitioner Terra Barnett ”In many cases, prison riots are set off by a seemingly simple issue. A fight between inmates, a lost privilege, or changes in programs offered can all set off riots in the right conditions. When a small number of people start fighting, that fighting can set off a much larger riot that can spread throughout a prison. Calling the small incident that set off the riot the reason for the riot is misleading because the same action does not always or even usually set off a riot.Typically, the real reason for a riot has to do with the conditions inside the prison over time. A series of small events and social tension between inmates and guards can build up in a way that is hard to describe but easy to feel. People involved in prisons can often sense the atmosphere of a riot before it happens. A combination of prison overcrowding, boredom, and attitude can make some prisons more likely to experience prison riots than others, but no prison is entirely safe from riots.” Small event or confiscations over a long period of time often spell much worse results than one major event, this same trend can be seen in similar events in which riots occurred throughout history.Often times riots when riots occur there are several people injured or even killed who are not rioting at all, perhaps nothing is to be done about riots caused about issues involving contraband