Competing for Control: Gangs and the Social Order of Prisons

Pyrooz and Decker pull apart the bars on prison gangs to uncover how they compete for control. While there is much speculation about these gangs, there is little solid research. This book draws on interviews with 802 inmates - half of whom were gang members - in two Texas prisons; one of the largest samples of its kind. Using this data, the authors explore how gangs organize and govern, who joins gangs and how they get out, the dark side of gang activities including misconduct and violence, the ways in which gang membership spills onto the street, and the direct and indirect links between the street and prison gangs. Competing for Control captures the nature of gangs in a time of transition, as prison gangs become more horizontal and their power is diffused across groups. There is no study like this one.

David C. Pyrooz is Associate Professor of Sociology and Faculty Associate of the Institute of Behavioral Science at the University of Colorado Boulder. His research interests are in the area of gangs and criminal networks, developmental and life-course criminology, and incarceration and re-entry.

Scott H. Decker is Foundation Professor in the School of Criminology at Arizona State University. His main research interests are in gangs, violence, and active offenders. He is the author of Life in the Gang: Family, Friends and Violence (1996) and Policing Immigrants: Local Law Enforcement on the Front Lines (2016).