Most of our clientele, and our audience for that matter, are non-violent, first time offenders. Many of them are white collar offenders, and an overwhelming amount of them are headed to minimum security camps and FCI Lows. However, undoubtedly they all go onto social media and see all of the “prison” content creators. Some of them are great and filled with great advice. However, most of them have only done state time and then there are a handful that have only done USP time in the Feds.
While there’s valuable advice from everyone, as a newbie, it’s hard to pick out the good advice and many non-violent first time offenders are stuck believing they are going to get raped, have to join a gang, or immediately go to the SHU, having to “check in”.
Today I want to focus on joining a gang. There are lot’s of prison gangs out there and truth be told there is safety in numbers. Now one misconception is that gangs in Federal prison walk their yards and stomp everyone that isn’t in their gang. That couldn’t be farther from the truth. Most prison gangs only exert violence to handle issues of violation and disrespect. Did you steal something? Do you owe somebody a lot of money? Are you spreading rumors about someone? Did you snitch on someone?
My number one rule for Federal Prison is to keep your head down and mind your own business. Doing this will save you from just about every situation.
No, the answer is in most institutions you do not HAVE to join a gang. There are no gangs in minimum security camps. There are a limited amount of gangs in lows. When you get into mediums and USPs though, joining a gang or a car is simply the way of life. Now there are traditional gangs GDs, MS13, Serano, Pisca etc but there are also cars. A car is when you “ride” with a group of like minded inmates, typically from your geographic location.
In many places, you can ride “independent” but that means exactly what it says, independent. If you’re riding independent you can’t’ start siding with one group or another, waivering as such can be a bad thing. You’ll also be sitting by yourself or with others riding independent.
Now each gang in prison has it’s own set of rules and some are more stringent than others. Most gangs won’t allow independents or other people outside of their gang or race to sit with them at meal time or hang out together in dayrooms, cells or cubes.
In Federal Prison, most TV rooms are segregated or in a large TV room their are different TVs specifically for each race, group or car.
But in minimum security camps you don’t have to worry about that at all. There are affiliated members who have worked their way down to camp and they tend to stick by one another but as long as youre respectful and follow the two main rules, you should do just fine.
