FEDERAL JAILS HIT BY GANG MENTALITY

Canada's prisons are becoming overrun with a sophisticated network of
ethnic, biker and aboriginal gangs -- and officials are bracing for numbers
to soar even higher, the Sun has learned. At last count, 1,651 federal
inmates -- more than 8% of the prison population -- were identified as
being affiliated with gangs that 'are running the show" behind bars.

A "conservative" estimate expects that number to climb by at least 200
within two years.

Internal documents from the Correctional Service of Canada, obtained by the
Sun through Access to Information, reveal a trend of increasingly varied
gangs in jail.

A snapshot in late 2003 shows 51 gangs operating behind bars, from white
supremacist, Asian, aboriginal and cult gangs to motorcycle, mob and terror
groups.

Gang members pose "serious threats" to jails through contraband drugs and
weapons, abusing the canteen systems, intimidating and extorting other
inmates and corrupting staff and public officials, according to an internal
CSC document.

"The area that seems least affected is inmate visiting," the document
reads. "Prison gangs take care to protect the visiting privilege, since
visiting is a major means of trafficking items (money, drugs, contraband,
etc.) back and forth between prison and the street."

PROSTITUTION, SLAVERY

Violence between rival gangs sometimes spills over to the general
population, a CSC report notes. According to the same document, prison
gangs have "been known" to engage in arson, strong-arm robbery, homosexual
prostitution, prostitution through private family visits, slavery, murder,
pornography, protection rackets and rape.

Luciano Bentenuto, CSC's project manager for organized crime and criminal
gangs, said a police crackdown on organized crime is the "major" factor for
rising numbers of gang members in jail.

ARRIVE WITH COLOURS

"We tend to get whatever the law-enforcement officials end up targeting on
the street and we just get who they end up convicting in the courts," he said.

Bentenuto said the number of street gangs have tripled in Canada's
penitentiaries in the last four years, adding most arrive wearing colours.
CSC policy encourages "disaffiliation" and works to minimize security
threats through trained intelligence officers.

But Bentenuto admits isolating and/or rehabilitating each gang member is an
impractical goal.

Sylvain Martel, national president for the Union of Canadian Correctional
Officers, said CSC's lax policies leave gang members "running the show."

Gangs control the trafficking of narcotics and deadly weapons, he said.

Martel rebuffed CSC claims that few offenders join gangs after they're
incarcerated, insisting they join for status, privileges -- and survival.

FEDERAL PRISON POPULATION

Membership by group:

Motorcycle gangs: 550

Aboriginal gangs: 437

Traditional organized crime: 237

Street gangs: 233

Asian gangs: 87

White supremacist gangs: 45

Prison gangs: 37

Terror organizations: 11

Extremist organizations: 6

Cults: 4

Eastern European organized crime: 4

Total: 1651

ONTARIO PRISON POPULATION

Membership by group:

Motorcycle gangs: 93

Street gangs: 39

Traditional organized crime: 19

Asian gangs: 16

Aboriginal: 12

White supremacist gangs: 7

Prison gangs: 7

Terror organizations: 4

Cults: 3

Eastern European organized crime: 2

Extremist organizations: 2

Total: 204

- -- From internal CSC documents 2003