The Detective's Guide

Criminals lie.

Do you understand what a California inmate, ex-convict, or parolee is really saying?

California's inmates and parolees speak a unique language involving points, facilities, security threat groups/prison gangs, and debriefing. Understanding this language is a critical component of every interview, interrogation, field contact, and correctional classification. The Detective’s Guide: California Prisons, Prison Gangs, and Parolees is an essential tool for every patrol officer, gang investigator, classification officer, and detective who needs to understand and decipher correctional history. This book fully explains:

Inmates-The classification process, custody designation, rules violations, and how to decipher an inmate’s points.

Facilities-What does it mean to be assigned to a Security Housing Unit (SHU), Administrative Segregation (AD SEG), or a Level IV yard? A complete guide to every CDCR facility including: Avenal State Prison, California Correctional Center-Susanville, California Correctional Institution-Tehachapi, California Health Care Facility, California Institution for Men-Chino, California Institution for Women, California Men’s Colony, California Medical Facility, California Rehabilitation Center-Norco, California State Prison-Corcoran, California State Prison-LA, California State Prison-Solano, California Substance Abuse Treatment Facility, Calipatria State Prison, Centinela State Prison, Central California Women’s Facility, Chuckawalla Valley State Prison, Correctional Training Facility-Soledad, Deuel Vocational Institution, High Desert State Prison, Ironwood State Prison, Kern Valley State Prison, Mule Creek State Prison, North Kern State Prison, Pelican Bay State Prison, Pleasant Valley State Prison, Salinas Valley State Prison, San Quentin State Prison, Sierra Conservation Center, Valley State Prison, and Wasco State Prison.  Also included are out of state facilities, Division of Juvenile Justice Facilities, Community Correctional Facilities, and state mental hospitals for the criminally insane.

Security Threat Groups/Prison Gangs-The history, allies, enemies, markings and tattoos of: the Aryan Brotherhood, Black Guerilla Family, Mexican Mafia, Nazi Low Riders, Northern Structure/Nuestra Raza, Nuestra Familia, and the Texas Syndicate.

Security Threat Group II’s, Gangs, and Disruptive Groups-The difference between a prison gang and a disruptive group, the history, allies, enemies, markings, and tattoos of: 2-5’s, drop out/Sensitive Needs Yards (SNY) groups, Kumi African Nation (KANO), Northern Hispanics, Northern Riders, Public Enemy Number One (PENI), Southern Hispanics, and Radical/Terrorist Groups.

Records and Resouces-What information does CDCR have that can help in a criminal investigation? The Central File/Strategic Offender Management System (SOMS), inmate monitoring and recording system, Parole LEADS, the Investigative Service Unit, the Institutional Gang Investigator/Security Threat Group Investigator, the Fugitive Apprehension Team, the California Parolee Apprehension Team, the Special Service Unit, the Electronic Monitoring Unit, the ID Warrants Unit, the California Gang Intelligence Initiative, and the California Gang Task Force.

Parole-Parole requirements and conditions, parole violations, compliance operations, compliance check considerations and planning, parolee contact questionnaire, and debriefing topics.

Slang-A dictionary of nearly 700 prison slang terms and their definitions.

Don't do another field contact, interview, or classification with a California inmate, ex-convict, or parolee without first reading The Detective’s Guide: California Prisons, Prison Gangs, and Parolees.

This book was created based on information from numerous Correctional Officers, Correctional Counselors, Parole Agents, and inmates and former inmates from the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.