With Growth Comes Big City WOES, As Warren County Jailers Have To Worry About Gangs.
Gangs cause concerns at local jails
Over the past decade, jailers housing more inmates with ties to nationally known street gangs
By DEBORAH HIGHLAND
Bloods, Crips, Latin Kings, MS-13, Gangster Disciples, Asian Pride - jailers here work to quickly identify inmates who claim allegiance to these street gangs and others for the safety of the keepers, as well as the kept.
Decades-old gang rivalries that span from the East Coast to West Coast have created housing and safety concerns for southcentral Kentucky jailers. Jailers are constantly on the alert to prevent gang-related violence.
“You have to make every effort to do everything you can to keep the facility safe,” Warren County Jailer Jackie Strode said.
Jailers in Warren, Barren and Simpson counties have watched their inmate populations shift over the last decade from criminals with local ties to include criminals with ties to nationally known street gangs. That means keeping a Blood away from a Crip or an MS-13 away from a Latin King - whether it’s in the cell or in the recreation yard. It also means keeping several members of the same gang from taking up residence in one cell to help keep deputy jailers safe.
“We do our best to keep them separated so they don’t have any conflict,” Simpson County Jail Captain Tim Phillips said about housing members of rival gangs.
Jails in Simpson and Barren counties frequently take inmates with gang affiliations from the northern part of the state to ease jail crowding at other facilities.
“You hear of gangs being out in the big cities, but now it’s getting more localized,” Simpson County Jailer Eric Vaughn said.
“We’re having to be more aware ...” Vaughn said. “You will see the guys walking to the rec area throwing out signs to the people in other cells. That’s giving us a signal to be more aware.”
Vaughn has noticed inmates in his facility “throwing signs,” which means using hand gestures to send messages to other gang members.
“If you have rivals, you don’t put them together in the same cells because there is going to be a free-for-all,” Vaughn said.
But at the same time, you can’t load up an entire 10-man cell with members of one street gang because that creates a safety risk for jailers, said Rodney Ballard, a deputy commissioner of the Kentucky Department of Corrections.
“They get their strength from numbers,” Ballard said. “When they are together, that’s when they are dangerous.”
The Department of Corrections offered a seminar on gangs last month during the Kentucky Jailers’ Association Jail Improvement Conference in Bowling Green. During the seminar, law enforcement officials with gang expertise shared their knowledge about how to identify gang hand gestures, symbols, colors and tattoos.
As part of the booking process, jailers are shooting photos of gang tattoos on new inmates and are now asking them if they belong to any gangs.
“Most of the time they are honest. Usually they don’t want any more trouble then we do,” Barren County Jailer Matt Mutter said. “Once they tell us that, that stays on their record at our facility permanently. We are kind of relying on them to give us the information of people they can’t associate with.”
Jails use something they call “stay aways,” a computer alert system that calls attention to deputy jailers if they are moving an inmate with gang ties from one cell to another to prevent housing that inmate in a cell with someone from a rival gang. Stay aways can also be used for other inmates who simply can’t get along with someone else in the facility.
“It took us a few years working with local agencies and working with the state Department of Corrections to gather information that (gang members) were here. We needed to figure out where and which gang they belonged to if you will,” Strode said.
Over the past decade, jailers housing more inmates with ties to nationally known street gangs
By DEBORAH HIGHLAND
Bloods, Crips, Latin Kings, MS-13, Gangster Disciples, Asian Pride - jailers here work to quickly identify inmates who claim allegiance to these street gangs and others for the safety of the keepers, as well as the kept.
Decades-old gang rivalries that span from the East Coast to West Coast have created housing and safety concerns for southcentral Kentucky jailers. Jailers are constantly on the alert to prevent gang-related violence.
“You have to make every effort to do everything you can to keep the facility safe,” Warren County Jailer Jackie Strode said.
Jailers in Warren, Barren and Simpson counties have watched their inmate populations shift over the last decade from criminals with local ties to include criminals with ties to nationally known street gangs. That means keeping a Blood away from a Crip or an MS-13 away from a Latin King - whether it’s in the cell or in the recreation yard. It also means keeping several members of the same gang from taking up residence in one cell to help keep deputy jailers safe.
“We do our best to keep them separated so they don’t have any conflict,” Simpson County Jail Captain Tim Phillips said about housing members of rival gangs.
Jails in Simpson and Barren counties frequently take inmates with gang affiliations from the northern part of the state to ease jail crowding at other facilities.
“You hear of gangs being out in the big cities, but now it’s getting more localized,” Simpson County Jailer Eric Vaughn said.
“We’re having to be more aware ...” Vaughn said. “You will see the guys walking to the rec area throwing out signs to the people in other cells. That’s giving us a signal to be more aware.”
Vaughn has noticed inmates in his facility “throwing signs,” which means using hand gestures to send messages to other gang members.
“If you have rivals, you don’t put them together in the same cells because there is going to be a free-for-all,” Vaughn said.
But at the same time, you can’t load up an entire 10-man cell with members of one street gang because that creates a safety risk for jailers, said Rodney Ballard, a deputy commissioner of the Kentucky Department of Corrections.
“They get their strength from numbers,” Ballard said. “When they are together, that’s when they are dangerous.”
The Department of Corrections offered a seminar on gangs last month during the Kentucky Jailers’ Association Jail Improvement Conference in Bowling Green. During the seminar, law enforcement officials with gang expertise shared their knowledge about how to identify gang hand gestures, symbols, colors and tattoos.
As part of the booking process, jailers are shooting photos of gang tattoos on new inmates and are now asking them if they belong to any gangs.
“Most of the time they are honest. Usually they don’t want any more trouble then we do,” Barren County Jailer Matt Mutter said. “Once they tell us that, that stays on their record at our facility permanently. We are kind of relying on them to give us the information of people they can’t associate with.”
Jails use something they call “stay aways,” a computer alert system that calls attention to deputy jailers if they are moving an inmate with gang ties from one cell to another to prevent housing that inmate in a cell with someone from a rival gang. Stay aways can also be used for other inmates who simply can’t get along with someone else in the facility.
“It took us a few years working with local agencies and working with the state Department of Corrections to gather information that (gang members) were here. We needed to figure out where and which gang they belonged to if you will,” Strode said.
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