New York, NY, December 8, 1998…Racist prison gangs, bolstered by hate groups outside of prisons, are thriving and contributing to increased racial tensions and violence in the American penitentiary system, the ADL reported today. Prison officials estimate that up to 10 percent of the nation’s prison population is affiliated with such gangs. These findings are documented in a new ADL report, Bigotry Behind Bars: Racist Groups in U.S. Prisons.

"The vicious and racially motivated murder of James Byrd Jr. in Jasper, Texas, has drawn attention to the disturbing fact that some prison inmates develop and spread racist ideologies as members of prison gangs," said Howard P. Berkowitz, ADL National Chairman. "Many Prisoners have developed a brotherhood of hate, drawing new inmates into a pact with prejudice. Demonstrated by the senseless death of Mr. Byrd, the danger does not stop at the prison gates. Often those involved with gangs stay affiliated long after their release from prison, bringing their racist ideologies into society at large."

According to the report, one of the most notorious racist prison gangs is Aryan Brotherhood, which emerged in the 1960s at California’s San Quentin Prison. This violent gang has since spread to prisons throughout the United States and has been linked to a number of murders, both in and out of prisons.

The ADL report illustrates how a number of racist groups in the U.S. sponsor prison "outreach" programs that send tapes and literature filled with white supremacist propaganda to inmates. These extremist organizations encourage racist inmates by treating them as "martyrs," fueling their racist ideology through violent rhetoric.

One Oregon inmate in the February issue of Thule, a white supremacist publication written by and for prisoners, wrote, "We of the White nation are fighting a great battle … We, as a nation need to use our god [sic] given rights to fight this war against the canaanite jew [sic] and all other non-white races, for they are the true enemy of our White race."

White supremacist groups are not the only racist organizations active in prisons. The Nation of Islam, the Black Muslim group led by Minister Louis Farrakhan, has organized an extensive prison outreach program since 1984. NOI has fought, sometimes in court, to have its prison emissaries recognized as chaplains separate from the mainstream Muslim chaplaincy. Critics worry that Farrakhan’s rhetoric – including a long record of anti-Semitic and anti-white statements – may spill over into NOI’s prison outreach program and radicalize prisoners.

For some right-wing extremists, serving time in jail bolsters their status in the eyes of their supporters. For example, like David Lane, members of the terrorist group The Order are treated as "prisoners of war" in the rhetoric of racist publications.

Since his imprisonment in 1985, Mr. Lane has written for The New Order, WAR, Jew Watch, Aryan Nations Newsletter and The Klansman. In the December 1997 issue of Storm Watch, he writes, "When it is truly written that judeo-America [sic] and judeo-Christianity [sic] were the twin murderers of the White race, let the executioner’s devices be equally recorded. And let the last generation of the true White men wreak vengeance with death and destruction."

Related Link(s):   Bigotry Behind Bars: Racist Groups in U.S. Prisons   Nation of Islam/Farrakhan Front Page   ADL Backgrounders Front Page

Editor’s note: To receive a copy of Bigotry Behind Bars: Racist Groups in U.S. Prisons, or to arrange an interview with an ADL expert, please call the ADL Media Relations department at (212) 885-7749. The above report can also be found on the ADL Web site by clicking here.

The Anti-Defamation League, founded in 1913, is the world's leading organization fighting anti-Semitism through programs and services that counteract hatred, prejudice and bigotry.