Pelican Bay State Prison

Pelican Bay Sate Prison is one of California's most dangerous and most over populated super max prisons.  The prison holds some of the countries most dangerous offenders and from the shows that I've seen that go inside prison walls these offenders seem to only get worse after their time spent in Pelican Bay.  Most of the criminals don't seem to care that they're in there and are often times just as violent if not more violent then they were out on the streets.  The prisons over population problems are so enormous that the gym of the prison is now serving as an area for inmate housing and the gym is lined from wall to wall with three layer bunks.  The prison was designed to hold 2,280 people, and currently holds 3,461.  The gym is segregated into different sections according to race and gang affiliation, a section for Mexicans, a section for Blacks, a section occupied by Whites, and another for Asians.  All inmates know not to ever walk through a section of the gym not occupied by their own gang.  Several killings and many assaults have taken place due to inmates walking through areas of the gym that they do not belong in.  This is a code of ethics that the prisoners have with one another and they all respect the designated space.  They even go so far as to designate shower stalls, vanity tables, and toilets according to race and gang affiliation.

 Typical American prison cell.

The other day I was watching a show on the national geographic channel about the prison system in America called Lock Down.  I always find myself watching these shows on tv about prisons and, my favorites being Lock Down, and Lock up Raw on MSNBC.  I can't believe my eyes when I see the things that actually go on behind prison doors.  The amount of crime that goes on in the prison system, both from the guards, and the inmates, is compatibly the same as the crime that goes happens on the streets of America.  There are so many gangs that are fully functioning in the prison system and the y seem to have no problems what so ever contacting their other gang members in the outside world.  There is a whole set or codes, rules, and ethics that prisoners must follow and they really live in their own little world and sometimes seem as though they'd be happier behind bars then they would if they were free.  I also heard a startling statistic stating that 32.2% of young Black men and 12.3% of young Latino men are either in prison, jail, or on probation or on parole.  That is a scary statistic and I don't quite know how to understand this or why this may be however when I watch these shows on tv I do notice that the majority of the prison inmates, no matter what prison the show is filmed at, Black and Latino males.  I'm curious to know why this may be however I don't think that there is a concrete answer.