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Dr Jarrod Gilbert’s new report “The Gang Influence of New Zealand Prisons” suggests segregating gang and non-gang members in prisons.
Gangs have significant influence, creating fear and pushing prisoners to join for security, Gilbert says.
The segregated prison population has risen from 4% in 1983 to over 35% in 2023.
A new report is calling for gang members to be segregated in New Zealand prisons to combat their significant and “problematic” influence over inmates.
Sociologist Dr Jarrod Gilbert’s new report, The Gang Influence of New Zealand Prisons, was commissioned by Corrections and found gangs had informal control over the country’s prisons.
Gilbert told Newstalk ZB’s Mike Hosking that while Corrections still “holds the keys” in prisons, gangs have too much influence and said it was detrimental to how they were run.
Dr Jarrod Gilbert’s new report The Gang Influence of New Zealand Prisons suggests segregating gang and non-gang members in prisons. Photo / Brett Phibbs
“Clearly, if one of your goals is rehabilitation … then this level of control and power is problematic.”
In the report, a Corrections staffer said the gangs “run the jail”, while a prisoner said there was “no strict code of ethics”, and described gang members as the “biggest group of monkeys in the cage that dictate what is okay and what is not”.
Gangs were “creating a place of fear” and pushing prisoners towards joining them for security, Gilbert said.
Dr Jarrod Gilbert says gangs are creating a 'place of fear' within prisons. Photo / George Heard
He claimed they respected prisoners who could take care of themselves, but would take “whatever they can” from vulnerable inmates and possibly “force [them] to do things”.
Prisoners could be robbed of nicotine lozenges and chicken dinners – the latter especially prized as a rare source of protein behind bars.
This has resulted in a “massive increase” in voluntary segregation over recent years, Gilbert says.
The segregated prison population has soared from 4% in 1983 to over 35% in 2023, more than a third of all inmates.
“In some ways, we are unconsciously establishing two prisons.”
The report suggested voluntary segregation was a good option for prisoners, although it carried some stigma as it was perceived as the place for “narks” and child sex offenders.
Prisons could formally establish separate wings, Gilbert told Newstalk ZB, but it should be done intentionally.
“It may well be that we have to go to [segregated] wings, but if we are going to do that, we should be doing that consciously and with a plan, rather than just allowing it [to] happen.”
Gilbert’s report also suggested balancing gang numbers within a unit as a control measure, as well as isolating “disrupters” by placing them in segregation cells where inmates stay for up to 23 hours a day.
It also called for greater staff training in gangs and how to control them as well as gathering and sharing intelligence with other agencies.
He said rehabilitation in the best environment is difficult, but is even harder in a prison environment where gangs have significant power.
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