by KYW's David Madden
A new study of New Jersey’s prison system suggests that street gang members who are behind bars are able to do much of what they did on the street, in part by using new technologies.
The State Commission of Investigation has traditionally probed organized crime. These days, their main concern is gangs like the “Bloods,” and Commission chair Cary Edwards says this 36-page report suggests their sphere of influence behind bars is "frightening."
"They use advanced cell phones, Blackberrys, other smuggled electronic devices to readily communicate and conduct criminal enterprises from within prisons while incarcerated."
Edwards says there is also extortion, drug dealing, and movement of what’s labeled “unlimited amounts of money” through inmate accounts.
Among the allegations: extortion of guards, and communications not only with those on the outside but with fellow gang members in other prisons.
The report makes dozens of recommendations -- including many low-cost policy changes -- to turn the trend around. Those efforts include putting gang leaders in a prison in Newark, to work on turning them around.
The Corrections Department says it’s been proactive in dealing with gang activity for more than a decade, and is reviewing the commission’s report. A half-dozen dogs were brought in last fall, trained to sniff out cell phones.
E-Mail Story
Print Story
