9.14. Current Issues in Corrections: War on Drugs and Gangs 
DAVID CARTER 
The war on drugs, initiated by President Nixon in 1971, was framed as an all-out war to eradicate drugs in 
the United States. The massive expenditures on the curtailment of the drug epidemic also shifted our views 
on drug use. We became much more punitive towards drugs, treating it as more of a criminal justice issue, 
rather than as a substance dependence issue. Good or bad, drug use was demonized in the public and media, 
which aided in the development of much tougher sanctions on drug use in America. The Drug Enforcement 
Agency was created in 1973, to provide another arm of the government to tackle a specific issue, drugs. 
By the 1980s, lengthy sentences for drug possession were also in place. One to five-year sentences for 
possession were increased to upwards of 25 years. There was also an increased focus on gangs, which were 
held responsible for the majority of the drug trade in the United States. 
Gang activity in the United States was prevalent long before the enactment of the war on drugs. However, 
once the linkages between our fear of crime, and the drug trade by gangs became more pronounced due to 
the war on drugs, the conflict escalated. While there are hundreds of different gangs in many neighborhoods 
and communities in the United States today, gangs in prison have converged into four main gangs, or 
what corrections call security threat groups. These four basic gangs include the Whites, the Blacks, the 
Southerners (Surenos, or EME), and the Northerners (Nortenos). Not only are these STGs considered violent 
inside and outside of prison, but they are also actively involved in the continuing drug trade in the United 
States today, even behind bars. In fact, many of the leaders of all of the gangs on the streets are held in one 
prison in California, Pelican Bay State Prison. 
Within the prisons in the United States, gangs actively recruit members, communicate with gangs on the 
streets, run the drug trade, and are also at war with each other over the power within the institutions, from 
their perspective. There have been numerous documentaries on gangs in the U.S., and even mainstream 
films about gangs and gang life, both inside and out. A few notable examples of films to watch on this subject 
include Felon (2008), Shot Caller  (2017), and American Me (1992). 
Transcarceration 
At the same time, the proliferation of gangs was occurring in prisons in the United States, there were 
another sizeable increase of prisoner type, mentally ill inmates. This is due to the transinstitutionalization 
that occurred for thousands during the late 1970s, 1980s. Transinstitutionalization, or transcarceration is a 
process that occurred for many with mental health issues when State-run mental health facilities began to 
close their doors. Having few choices of where to go, many became homeless or destitute. Ultimately, these 
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