NCJ Number
167697
Journal
Corrections Today Volume: 58 Issue: 6 Dated: (October 1996) Pages: 110-111,115
Date Published
1996
Length
3 pages
Annotation
This article describes a program for managing gang activity at the Hampden County Correctional Center, Ludlow, MA.
Abstract
Several gang members in the Hampden facility destroyed county property in response to a new jail policy that prohibited gang hand signals, gang literature, gang assaults and other gang-related activity. The Corrections Center responded by developing a program for managing gang activity. The program integrates security and human services and has been quite successful. When the Hampden facility began the gang program in November 1993, staff discussions focused on providing not only a segregation unit for identified active gang members, but also a step-by-step program for members of the group who may be motivated to return to the general population. The cognitive retraining program selected for gang members was the Pacific Institute's "Changing Directions," a 10-hour video presentation. Two years after the program was implemented, 190 gang members had participated in and completed the program; 23 were returned to the segregation unit, 17 of them for involvement in gang activity, for a recidivism rate of 9 percent.