Also, you state that many people get their 2nd or 3rd strike from carrying defensively when in prison or from prison altercations that are not their fault. Can you back that up?
Yes I have worked with prisoners and usualy whenever they are involved in an altercation warranting charges all are equaly charged. Whether an individual was the attacker or not, they are all involved in a gang culture for survival in there and obviously have rap sheets. When someone or a group of individuals pull weapons on others who have weapons themselves, the mere fact that they had weapons at all warrants a strike, using those weapons warrants a second one. So if they already had one before prison, they will have 3 after that incident.
If you have not worked in the heavy gang environment of the prisons then you cannot understand it. There is no way to be safe and not be involved in the politics present. Anyone not involved is a target with no backup to act as a deterent. The deterent for other predators from preying on eachother is that even if who they prey on cannot harm them, reprisals will happen. Attacking or preying on someone means a hit is often put out on someone, often the predator. That is what keeps them from acting on the desire to prey on eachother most of the time.
If someone is preyed on, and the group that preyed on individual belongs to does not retaliate, that deterent is gone and they are viewed as "bitches". They will become the new favored victims when someone wants property, drugs, or sex. They will in general also have little say in how things go.
In prison getting hit by a victim is not a deterent. Getting "shanked" in retaliation by others of his group at a later date when they don't see it coming is. That is why small framed mexicans are in charge even with large framed blacks prevelent. The mexicans are quick to stab if the blacks victimize one of them. The same goes for the white minority. These people fight for fun, so punches are not a deterent. Something more serious than punches, even in self defense, is a crime in prison, which warrants a strike under the three strikes law. If an entire group is attacked by another group with improvised stabbing intruments
and the attacked group is unarmed they will be killed. So they usualy will have some available. When its 1 on 1, guards get involved, when its several on several they wait for backup and keep a distance. The inmates are on thier own for several minutes at that point.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_03JitIJK0g
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3cJpJVnneeg
(these situations will also show you just how effective tear gas and pepper sprays are against armed violent people) After such situations prisoners know who is willing to fight, who "put work in" and who is a "bitch" that tried to not be involved. The last catagory will become the new victims. Who makes it back to the street and who stays in prison is often a matter of luck.
Many of them go in for some years and never leave. Others go in for a single violent episode in which they are charged with several crimes and get 2-3 strikes at once. For example a robbery may be charged with, robbery, assault with a deadly weapon, possession of a firearm in the comission of a crime, felony resisting arrest, (and about 5-10 others to give prosecutors some leverage in plea bargaining) etc All from one robbery and fleeing the scene. This is not to excuse thier behavior, simply to illustrate how one crime is often multiple strikes.
It is real easy to get flustered when dealing with politicans trying to ease social problems. I don't really believe we can help secure society until we secure ourselves. There is no answer to appease everyone.:banghead:
