Thread: NJ: SCI Says Bloods Leaders Rule Behind Bars

SCI says Bloods leaders rule behind barsTHE ASSOCIATED PRESS • November 19, 2008




TRENTON — Leaders of the Bloods street gang are still calling the shots from behind the walls of New Jersey's prisons.

The State Commission of Investigation says it found leaders are using cell phones to run their organizations and the gang controls the flow of drugs, phones and cash in prisons.

SCI agents say Bloods use inmate accounts to transfer money to buy drugs and phones behind bars. The panel says gang members are helped by corrupt corrections officers, prison staff and visitors.

One corrections officer told the panel he was paid $600 to smuggle a cell phone to a gang member.

The SCI says the Corrections Department doesn't have the staff and expertise to detect cell phones in prisons.

The SCI expects to issue a series of recommendations to stem gang activities in the spring.

In your voice
Read reactions to this story

Bring back the Death Penalty and START USING IT NOW!
11/19/2008 8:58:51 AM Bring back the Death Penalty and START USING IT NOW!


Lossdaddy wrote:

What happened to the corrections officer that told the panel he was paid $600 to smuggle a cell phone to a gang member??? I hope he didn't get a pay increase.

11/19/2008 8:52:54 AM What happened to the corrections officer that told the panel he was paid $600 to smuggle a cell phone to a gang member??? I hope he didn't get a pay increase.


NeptuneNative wrote:

Put em' in solitary if they want to be gang members.
11/19/2008 8:47:20 AM Put em' in solitary if they want to be gang members.


Mrfixit wrote:

There should be no reason for any cell phones for anyone in a secured facility. Jam the signals and see what happens.

11/19/2008 8:47:10 AM There should be no reason for any cell phones for anyone in a secured facility. Jam the signals and see what happens.

rfr1954 wrote:

With all of the technology we have today, I would think that there would be some way of jamming the radio signals of the cell phones in prisons. We had the technology in WW II, so it should not be too difficult.
11/19/2008 8:35:43 AM With all of the technology we have today, I would think that there would be some way of jamming the radio signals of the cell phones in prisons. We had the technology in WW II, so it should not be too difficult.






http://www.app.com/article/20081119/NEWS/81119003

Report: Bloods rule roost in N.J. prisons

By TOM BALDWIN • Gannett State Bureau • November 19, 2008


Buzz up! TRENTON — The Bloods street gang has become headquartered inside New Jersey's prisons by taking advantage of systematic weaknesses in Department of Corrections' procedures and manpower, testimony in a stinging hearing contended Tuesday.


"Organized crime, as we know it here in the 21st century, has established a series of operational outposts -- if not outright strongholds -- within the very walls of our state prisons," said W. Cary Edwards, chairman of the State Commission of Investigation and a former New Jersey attorney general.

Edwards was talking about the commission's latest investigation, still ongoing, into how street gangs have affected prisons by using technology, their numbers and raw terror to remain operational behind the razor wire.

Edwards said gangs, especially the Bloods, conduct their behind-bars business of drugs, contraband, intimidating other inmates and compromising guards "with impunity."

The commission, which takes an academic's long view of problems arising on New Jersey's horizon, brought forth witnesses and investigators who offered withering examples of shortcomings in the prisons.

They painted a picture of a department overwhelmed by inmates, saying the Bloods especially possessed the edge, from bypassing telephone security and trafficking drugs and other contraband to bribing guards and even co-opting female staffers by way of intimacies.

"It's ripe for the kind of abuse that gang members thrive upon," said Kenneth Cooley, an investigative accountant with the SCI.

"It's all about strength in numbers," said Detective Sgt. Ronald Hampton of the New Jersey State Police intelligence section specializing in gangs.

The investigation found that the Corrections Department lacked numerous proper procedures for monitoring inmates' visitations, for watching over their mail and phone communications or staying abreast of the inmates' financial issues.

Some guards even wore gang-member tattoos or were apparent sympathizers, employing Bloods code words, according to the testimony.

Former Corrections Department Deputy Commissioner Gary Hilton told how gangs co-opt other inmates or guards.

"Hey," Hilton said they would say. "We know your 9-year-old daughter goes to P.S. 6, and she waits for the bus at Maple and Walnut. . . . It's a subtle way, but it is a very powerful way."
"We had nothing but the highest level of cooperation from the department," Edwards said of the Department of Corrections and the SCI effort to write its report, adding the unions too were helpful. ". . . It is not part of our mission to blame people."

Corrections Commissioner George Hayman issued a statement saying, "The NJDOC has worked to ensure a full and free flow of information to SCI" and "looks forward to hearing the public testimony and reviewing the report."

Reach Tom Baldwin at tbaldwi@gannett.com





http://www.courierpostonline.com/articl ... /811190369

One of the cable channels has a series on gangs and they just did a thing on the Bloods the other night.

The East Coast Bloods were literally formed in prison specifically to counter the Latin Kings who ran the jail.

WHen I was watching it, I decided that if I ran a prison they simply wouldn't be allowed contact with each other.

Solitary confiment for every one!

My question is,...................... WHAT THE H**L ARE THESE CRIMINALS DOING WITH CELL PHONES IN PRISON? That's absolutely ludicrous! Where in the h**l is the Dept. of Correction's common friggin sense! OMFG! Are these people really that friggin braindead?

self edited