A fascinating account of how prison gangs operate.
David Skarbek, The Social Order of the Underworld: How Prison Gangs Govern the American Penal System, Oxford University Press, 2014, 224 pp. $27.95.
Prisons are extraordinary laboratories for the study of human nature. How do impulsive, violent men behave when they are forced to live together for years on end in regimented intimacy? David Skarbek, who is a lecturer at King’s College, London, shows in this remarkable book that racial segregation is one of the basic ways American prisoners order their lives. Segregation is one of the key features of prison gangs, which have become so powerful that, at least in some states, they control virtually every aspect of prison routine. Dr. Skarbek argues convincingly that the purpose of prison gangs is to make and enforce rules, and that gangs are, on balance, a good thing. ...