Gazette - Street gangs: a federal correctional perspective

COVER SECTION

By Luciano Bentenuto
Correctional Service of Canada

Gangs and organized crime bring new challenges to the correctional system in Canada. Legislation to combat organized crime, along with the proactive approach adopted by law enforcement agencies and the increasingly successful prosecutions of organized crime cases, has resulted in a greater number of gang members or affiliates serving sentences of two or more years in federal penitentiaries.

Demographics

In the past few years, much attention has been given to outlaw motorcycle gangs (OMGs) and traditional organized crime entities. However, with the emergence of street gangs and other similar groups such as Aboriginal gangs, the Correctional Service of Canada (CSC) has seen quite a change in its offender population, particularly gang demographics.

There are now 55 different types of gangs under CSC jurisdiction. As of December 30, 2007, there were 1,882 offenders identified as either members or associates of criminal organizations. The majority had gang affiliations before they were incarcerated. Of those 1,882 offenders, 66 per cent were incarcerated and 34 per cent were under some form of community supervision. Initial estimates suggest that the number of offenders who have gang affiliations will increase by approximately five to 10 per cent within the next two years.

Within the same group, 548 offenders were identified as members or affiliates of Aboriginal gangs, the largest gang group within CSC. Eighty-six percent of this group are serving their sentences within the Prairie region. Meanwhile, the number of offenders affiliated with street gangs (as opposed to OMGs and other organized crime groups) has increased by 119 per cent, from 213 members in 2000 to 467 in 2007. Street gangs now represent a slightly larger group than OMGs.

Challenges

The constant growth of gangs within the correctional realm has created a number of challenges for CSC:

• power and control issues stemming from intimidation, extortion and violence within the incarcerated and supervised community populations
• incompatibilities and rivalries among various groups
• drug distribution within institutions and continued criminal links with outside criminal organizations
• maximum security capacity to address the growing number of convictions for serious crimes that are gang-related

From 2003 to 2006, there was a 50 per cent increase in the number of offenders admitted to federal custody with weapons offences who were also affiliated with gangs.

CSC has adopted a multi-pronged approach to deal with the gang phenomenon. Its key objectives include the following:

• recognizing that criminal organizations pose a serious threat to the safe, secure, orderly and efficient management and operations of our institutions and community operational units
• ensuring that all actions are based on approved correctional policy
• affirming our intolerance for acts of violence and other criminal activities committed by criminal organization members and their associates, either in our institutions or in the community while the offenders are on conditional release

Risk management

CSC uses an Intelligence-Led Risk Management (ILRM) model, in which intelligence serves to guide operations focusing on preventive and proactive initiatives designed to manage risks within the daily correctional operations. IRLM acknowledges that risks are typically inherent to managing offenders within the correctional realm, particularly when these offenders are affiliated with criminal organizations.

ILRM’s ultimate goal is to improve efficiency in responding to security threats by giving institutional security intelligence officers and their counterparts in the community increased intelligence gathering, analysis and dissemination capabilities. It also promotes an inter-jurisdictional partnership in which information can safely be shared with our law enforcement partners, including the Criminal Intelligence Service Canada, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and the National Parole Board.

Gang population management

Although CSC promotes integration among offenders, the complexity of gang dynamics and the variations in gang structures do not allow for a one-size-fits-all gang management strategy. Existing gang rivalries and incompatibility issues may force CSC to resort to segregating certain gangs.

There have been some situations in which opposing gangs must be separated in order to effectively manage operations. When this occurs, gangs are housed in separate units to minimize and prevent contact and avoid potential gang-related incidents. However, separation is not always a realistic approach to dealing with gangs. Correctional officials assess each situation individually and develop approaches and interventions at the local level, in order to effectively ensure safety in institutions within our community.

As well, CSC provides all gang members with an opportunity to disaffiliate from their gangs and appropriate measures are taken to prevent gang members from exercising influence and power in our institutions and in the community. For those offenders who are not affiliated with any criminal organizations or who have disaffiliated themselves from such groups, the focus is on preventing them from engaging in activities that predispose them to possible recruitment or initiation into a gang.

Prevention, intervention, suppression

The correctional gang management strategy is one that needs to remain flexible enough to accommodate the gang phenomenon and that focuses on the individuals and the groups to which they belong. This means developing multiple strategies that use prevention, intervention and suppression models.

It is estimated that 92 per cent of federal offenders under CSC jurisdiction are not gang members or affiliates. Consequently, the majority of programs or initiatives developed to address offender needs focus on prevention.

Conclusion

There’s no question that the issue of gang management within corrections remains a complex one, and that the implications are certainly broad. The expected increase in the number of offenders identified as either belonging to or being affiliated with criminal groups will continue to put pressure on current resources, as these offenders pose various challenges to our direct operations.

Nevertheless, CSC remains committed to the collective effort by all law enforcement agencies in Canada to provide Canadians with a safe and secure environment absent of gangs and gang-related violence.