Gangs and violence are routine in prison, but it’s not common public knowledge that heroin is almost as easy to get behind bars as it is to get on the street. The Aryan Brotherhood (AB), a white gang born in prison, is one of the major gangs running the heroin trade in prison. Though federal prison officials have made some high-profile busts in recent years and work hard to mitigate drug use and sales in prison, the AB is still running strong in many prisons with an estimated 15,000+ members.
While the AB famously started as a way for white prisoners to protect themselves from racial attack by Mexican and African American inmates, it soon became a pro-white organization that was aggressive in nature. Over time, however, its racial principles have been trumped by one thing – money. The heroin trade in prisons brings in hundreds of thousands of dollars and no principles – or lives – are more important to the leaders than money.
Heroin: A Deadly Business
People who don’t follow orders, anyone who gets in the way of the heroin trade, anyone who gets in the way of anything they want – these are the people who die due to the AB’s obsession with the heroin trade inside. The FBI estimates that though only 1 percent of the prison population are involved in gangs, gang violence is responsible for 20 percent of the murders.
As a result of the rampant violence and death, many prison officials ignore drug trafficking in prisons. They are keenly aware of the fact that they go home every night and that the prisoners live there 24 hours a day with nothing to do but plan and plot how to get away with what they want to do. If they want to get high or sell drugs, officials often do little to stop them. Many in the AB who benefit from the drug trade have nothing to lose; they are already committed to spending the rest of their life in prison. Multiple sentences for continuing to sell drugs inside does nothing to deter them. The result is an ongoing deadly business that keeps small-time criminals doing time for drug-related crimes caused by addiction in constant contact with the drug that put them there in the first place.
Treatment, Not Prison
The problem of AB-run heroin trafficking in prisons is yet another reason that drug addiction treatment is a far more effective response to small-time drug-related crimes. If your loved one is facing jail time or committing crimes to maintain their addiction that could land them in prison, you can help them turn their life around by getting them the treatment they need. Call us at Michael’s House today to learn more about our addiction treatment programs.
The post Money Trumps Race: The Aryan Brotherhood and Heroin Sales in Prison appeared first on Michael's House Treatment Centers.
