CONVICT GANGS, INTER-CONVICT VIOLENCE AND PRISON RIOTS

Abstract

The efficiency of penitentiary systems is determined by various factors. The existence of a larger number of institutions classified according to different criteria within a single system provides the possibility of establishing a more efficient management and control system, with the aim of applying adequate treatment methods and procedures, as well as individualized treatment programs, to a heterogeneous convict population in an adequate, safe and secure prison environment. However, penitentiary systems in the world are not at the same level of organization, development or efficiency. The systems are divergent and their level of development is determined by the political, normative, economic, financial, social and value framework and the state of a particular country, i.e. prison capacities, architectural solutions, the size of the convict population, crime rates, the type and number of newly committed offenses, the number of prison sentences imposed, the characteristics of convicted persons, humanity in the treatment or protection of the rights of convicted persons. Within the framework of penitentiary systems, there is a formal prison organization, but also a special informal organization of the convict community, which is characterized by a special system of values, rules and behaviors that form part of the prison subculture. Of particular importance when researching the functioning of penitentiary systems is, among others, the analysis of convict communities and gangs, violence among convicts and prison riots, to which this paper is dedicated.