This idiotic plan was obviously dreamt up by someone who has never worked in a jail, or has been out of jail for a long time. At one facility, the integration lasted about five minutes before a large gang fight erupted. What did they think was going to happen? In their minds it was probably the first step towards world peace.
Integrating jail gangs a tense transition
S.F. sheriff's officials ignoring affiliation
08/20/01
Reversing a decade of policy, the San Francisco Sheriff's Department is experimenting with the criminal justice equivalent of mixing oil and water: placing rival gangs together in its San Bruno jail.
The 3-month-old integration policy bucks prevailing practice in the Bay Area, where most county jails keep rival gang members separated from the moment they enter.
But in the recreation area of San Francisco County's Jail 3, where inmates play baseball and soccer or simply stroll for two hours a day, five days a week, rival gang members now are separated only by air under the watchful eyes of guards.
Housing units are slowly being integrated as well, jail officials say, although gang leaders and especially violent members are still kept apart. Integration also has been ordered in the department's units in the San Francisco Hall of Justice.
Jail officials say a growing number of gang members, a dwindling supply of guards and a change in philosophy about how gang members should be handled prompted the move. The policy has led to some brawls, bruises and blood, but jail officials say the violence is much lighter than they feared.
Some gang experts say the city is on the right track in dealing with what is now a statewide problem of increasing numbers of rival gang members. Others say San Francisco is asking for trouble.
"Given what we see . . . I don't know if I'd want to do that," said Santa Clara County Sheriff's Lt. David Sepulveda, who classifies and segregates incoming inmates by gang affiliation and other factors. "I don't think it would work out."
Gang members inside the aging San Bruno jail say the city is courting disaster with two groups that are not going to change their ways.
"There's problems on the street, in jail, in the (prison), everywhere," said Ricardo Gutierrez, a gang member from Mexico City who was involved in a May 18 fight in the yard. "It's gangsters, it's problems."
But their jailers insist that integration may have benefits in the long run.
In any case, they say they have little choice.
"We've been moving toward consolidation for six or seven months now," said Chief Deputy Jan Dempsey. "Having to consolidate housing because of a severe staffing problem just hurried the process along."
Jail 3 has an authorized maximum capacity of 550 inmates, Dempsey said, and 123 authorized custody positions. In May, the number of uniforms at the jail had dwindled to 98. Overtime expenses boomed.
The staffing crunch was just the latest problem to beset the aging jail, built in 1934 -- the same year Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary opened -- and now wildly out of date in design, construction and maintenance.
The city committed itself last year to building a replacement jail, after overcrowding and other problems led a federal judge to find conditions in Jail 3 unconstitutionally harsh.
It was about 10 years ago, Dempsey said, that the jail began segregating gang members, when the first few Surenos appeared in a population overwhelmingly dominated by Nortenos.
Both gangs originate in the California prison system, the Surenos -- Spanish for "Southern" -- as in Southern California, and the Nortenos -- meaning "Northern," as in Northern California.
Back then, Dempsey said, it was fairly simple to keep the warring members apart, because there were so few southerners. San Francisco kept its few Surenos in Jail 7, a small, modern jail next door to Jail 3.
The two groups rarely, if ever, mixed.
But today, the Surenos have expanded their territory from Bakersfield to as far north as San Jose, according to some experts. Five years ago, San Francisco's jails housed fewer than 75 identified gang members, Dempsey said. Today, the number is over 200, with probably an equal number that are affiliated but flying under the radar, she said.
"In the last two or three years, the number of Surenos in our county jails as well as statewide is increasing, and the number of Nortenos is not," Dempsey said.
Segregating the gang members introduced other problems, Dempsey said. Acknowledging inmates' gang identification gave them legitimacy, and concentrating them made it easier for them to communicate and plan attacks on rivals.
So when the staffing problems led the department to move almost all the 220 prisoners and 24 staff members from Jail 7 into Jail 3, Nortenos and Surenos found themselves sharing the dusty exercise yard.
"The goal is to maintain a balance," Dempsey said. "It is probably the case that there is a possibility for a surging in violence while they get used to it. That hasn't happened, though."
But Richard Navarro, 30, an inmate who was involved in one of two May brawls, accused jail administrators of being naive and using gang struggles to justify staffing increases.
"The balance of power -- it's an illusion. It's never going to happen," said Navarro, an aspiring writer whose face and arms are covered with tattoos supporting his self-proclaimed Norteno affiliation.
"I've got to do what I've got to do. It's politics," he said. "This is bigger than any institution. It's bigger than me. And there's nothing they can do about it."
But reality isn't bearing out the threat, said Dempsey.
"Nortenos are supposed to kill every Sureno they see," she said. "Well, they're not doing that in this system, or I'd have a lot of dead people."
Senior Sheriff's Deputy Dave Hardy, president of the San Francisco Deputy Sheriffs Association, said the reports he has been receiving from guards inside Jail 3 were not always encouraging.
Hardy said he supported integrating the gangs in theory. But he criticized department brass for failing to put in place tough sanctions to prevent fights and to punish those who engage in them.
"The take I was getting from the troops . . . is it's not good now, it's getting worse, and they are expecting more fights," Hardy said. "So far, we've been very lucky."
But San Mateo County Deputy District Attorney Kevin McGee, who prosecutes many of the county's gang cases and has held classes in gang law around the state, said that in the long run, integration might exacerbate the problems of segregation it is supposed to solve.
While segregating groups may allow them to consolidate their power, McGee said, integrating them can force them to solidify their lines and incite members to take a public stand against rivals.
"The long-term effect of integration, I think, is pretty bad," he said. "Some facilities become 'gladiator schools.' If you're going to make a name for yourself, you're going to do it inside, so when you get out, you have fear and respect and status. . . . It's vocational."
A new jail being built to replace the ancient Jail 3 is scheduled to open within three years, and Jail 7 is scheduled to reopen in September. No final decision about integration or segregation has been made for either jail, officials say, and the current integration is moving slowly and cautiously.
"There could come a time when we need to go with segregation again," Dempsey said. "We just have to go with the tide."