Criminal big men have always used coercive means to build empires in prison. Violence has long been institutionalised in British prisons. Throughout the 1960s, 1970’s control and order was enforced through a group of dominant prisoners known as the ‘Chaps’ or ‘Faces’, usually right-wing gangsters who actively colluded with guards in suppressing resistance amongst prisoners. In maximum security jails such as Parkhurst on the Isle of Wight, prisoners considered ‘trouble makers’ were targeted by guards who then encouraged the ‘Chaps’ to ‘deal with’ the prisoners so targeted. This would often take the form of the ‘Chaps’ paying a mentally psychotic prisoner with drugs or tobacco to stab and sometimes kill the targeted ‘troublemaker’. With the support and help of the guards the ‘Chaps’ occupied the pinnacle of the prisoners’ hierarchies of power on the understanding of course that ultimately their role was to maintain ‘good order and discipline’ of the system. In the 70s, Irish Republican prisoners were usually few in number, and were often targeted. The Screws, often former soldiers, turned a blind eye. That changed in the 1980s, when more were sent to English prisons. The Irish organised themselves, in prison, into paramilitary units. The ‘Balcombe street active service unit’ came into the prison system in the late 1970s and warned the ‘Chaps’ that unless their attacks on Irish prisoners stopped their families on the outside would be targeted for bomb attacks, it had the desired effect and the violence against Irish prisoners ceased. IRA prisoners then began to organise prisoners generally and were at the forefront of many of the major prisoner uprisings during the 1980s. In 1998 following the Irish peace agreement, IRA prisoners were released and a vacuum then developed into which the Chap element began to again fill. In the noughties, history repeated itself. More Muslims were entering prison due to terroristic offences, and were, like the Irish, targeted, with the connivance of prison staff. This political Islam (not Islam per se) attracted the same sort of organisation and discipline that the IRA achieved inside and they fought back against these "chaps". Its no wonder that being offered protection in these gangs is so attractive. Prison gang culture in the 60-70s was more informal, and operated to support the Prison officers. Popular culture lampooned this permissiveness; Porridge, The Italian Job. The IRA saw formalisation of structures. Religion became a dimension in the 2000s, but in additional, largley because of American cultural influence, other structures arose. A 2019 government report summarises this. Traditional criminal networks; Drug trafficking, debt, contraband, intimidation and organised crime. Street gangs; Groups originating outside prison whose relationships continue inside. Ethnic/community alliances; Sometimes providing protection without necessarily being criminal gangs. Muslim prisoner communities; Mostly ordinary religious communities, which should not be confused with gangs. Muslim-identified criminal gangs; A smaller phenomenon in which religious identity can be used alongside conventional gang functions. Islamist extremist networks; Ideological groups attempting to radicalise or exert influence. Substitute "forced conversion" for hazing. The Owers report over 10 years ago highlighted all this. This isn't really current news, just recycled old news.
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