Lockdown: Gang Vs Family
Kathryn Wallace - Associate Producer
The words "Maximum-security prison" and "Utah" aren't exactly a natural fit. Before my visit to Utah State Prison, I wondered if the state - whose most famous exports included the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and Donny and Marie Osmond - had enough criminals to fill their sprawling 700-acre facility. It turns out yes - Utah has law-breakers of all stripes - more than 4,000 men and women - locked up at Utah State Prison. And a bigger surprise: almost half of these inmates have gang ties.
From my vantage point, Utah didn't look urban to me. So where are gangs springing up without the urban feeding grounds for gangs and crime? Officers and inmates told me that the most violent gangs on the street and in the prison are actually imports from California or Mexico - dangerous crime syndicates like the "Surenos" and "Nortenos." The bloodiest feuds are turf battles between the newcomers and the older gangs in the handful of larger cities like Salt Lake City and Ogden.
But then a good portion of the prison's gang inmates are from the almost mythically small Utah desert or mountain towns with names like Kanab and Bountiful - cities with little to offer and lots of wide-open space to get in trouble. You get the feeling from talking to inmates from these small towns that they are getting their script on how to act straight from the movies. At first, I had a hard time taking these gangs seriously. But as small-timing as I thought some of the desert gangsters are, officers warn me that these inmates are actually some of the most volatile and dangerous behind bars; to them, prison is the "Big Dance" - an audition in front of real gangsters for a bigger part.
One Utah gangster defined "respect" behind bars as a willingness to do violence; and based on the inmates we came to know in the gang unit, there appears to be a lot of ladder-climbing gangsters in Utah.
The first sign of gang ambition: inmates' bodies. Every prison has a healthy supply of tattoo artists who craft tattoo guns from ballpoint ink pens, pieces of cassette tapes or bedsprings. They burn baby oil and use the resin for ink - that's what gives the milky-grey faded look of a prison tattoo. I can't imagine this is a fun way to get a tattoo but inmates in the gang unit somehow find a way to get new tats with greater frequency than any other prison I've been in - and now the count is just under one dozen prisons.
And this is also the only prison I've known where officers perform routine full-body tattoo checks. (Officers say they gather gang intelligence from reading inmate bodies). If you are trying to keep your gang affiliation under wraps (and many inmates in the gang unit swear they aren't affiliated) then maybe inking a great big "Sureno Killer" across your chest sends the wrong message? It is clear that these inmates aren't trying to impress the officers with good behavior in this unit, but instead are trying to get the notice of gang leadership - their own or perhaps one of the larger groups like the Surenos or the Nortenos, that absorb many of the smaller local gangs once behind bars.
And the women at the prison are just as eager to please their gangs. On my first visit to USP, I found a group of women over on the female yard taking a break from their work in the prison kitchen. Female convicts can be pretty intimidating, especially in a group. In my time working for Lockdown, I've found female inmates are much more likely than men to hurl an insult or taunt our film crew. But these women were young and pretty with quick smiles - they all wanted to know the brand of my jeans, what colors the women were wearing on the street and if they could answer any questions for me.
I asked them if there was pressure for women to join gangs behind bars. Of this group of nine inmates, eight of them were gang affiliated -- from the streets. Gang activity is what got them in prison. Because they are women, they'd had to be extra violent to earn a place in the gang, they told me. Drive-by shootings, stabbings, getting beat into the gang: they all had violent stories to share, and they seemed to be very willing to go the extra mile for their gang.
It's this willingness to be violent that makes Utah State Prison so dangerous - and sadly cost one officer his life. Just a week after our crew left the prison, an inmate from a homegrown Utah white supremacist gang was able to grab the gun from the holster a transportation officer - the only officers that carry weapons - and shoot him in the face, killing him. This officer, Stephen Anderson, had been with the department almost 30 years and was about to retire. Utah bears the black mark of being the first state in several years to have a corrections officer killed - and any of the inmates in the STG unit are capable of this violence. Yes - even in Utah.
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20 Comments
I looked at clip, and it looks bad. I watched clip of WomenBehindBarslockdownShow, which was on last week. I tried to find it again, but it wasn't there. My partner, Gerrie"Starr" Watkins was on this film, but it never made it to the episode. I really wanted to see it, and it was never on, the whole thing.
I would like to get a video of it. Char
i would like to correspond with michael thompson is there a way i could do that thank you maggy
I think the show was accurate and illustrates the nationwide problem with gangs, and female gang members as well.
This coincides with my specialization in college. I began formally studying Salt Lake County, Utah gang graffiti in May 2006. We unfortunately appear to have all of the major US gang problems in this county.
I hope that legislation will prioritize more funding for swat, gang specialty units, and gang deterennce. Gangs and Drug addiction issues need to be dealt with better in the public school system in Utah. Denial is not a river in Africa. Utah crime statistics are not good. Utah Department of Public Safety Uniform Crime Reports link.
We all need to know more about prison operations and how to prevent the over crowding of prisons which brngs more violence. Please print a special magazine which combines articles written by your courageous crew which has become expert by "serving time." Let us read interviews of namy judges who sentence youth to jail instead of to rebab and educatioon.
Especially when drug dealing is the crime.
My thanks for a job well done and well reported.
I work in an After School program at an elementary school in Ogden. It's so sad that gangs are in these kids' homes. There are some of our students who have gang members in their homes their parents, brothers, sisters, or cousins bring gang activities to their houses. We've even had a fourth grade student come to school in gang colors.
I would also like to get in touch with Michael Thomas. Is that possible?
I recently watched this lockdown episode and was able to record it but by accident deleted it. I was curious how i could go about getting a copy of it.I have family members who are very close with one of the inmates family. A good loving in tact family with no gang association at all. By the way Mr. Nate Hansen is in fact not a hard core gang member as portrayed on this show, he wishes he were but in fact has never been initiated in this said gang.
so this artical is base on the voilence but why are we gang mebers stilll growwing
wow! this really tught me more about nature! keep up the good work! that you for this LOVELY article i really do appriciate it!
your fellow TH,
Allison Banks
keep up the work gangsters south vs north we all mexicans wiling to give up are live for this this will never end life goes on
sigan doing what you doing this will never end surenos vs nortenos asta la muerte.
i was wondering about the homegirl Natalie Tarascas and how she was doing. i saw her on the show lockdown gang vs family and she had jus made parole.. looking foward of trying to get in contact with her... pls respond soon
i was wondering about the homegirl Natalie Tarascas and how she was doing. i saw her on the show lockdown gang vs family and she had jus made parole.. looking foward of trying to get in contact with her... pls respond soon
i saw the special on prision gangs, and i was very impresed with Natalie Trascas, and i would like to help her to start a new life if she wishes to do so,i can provide benifits for her and her child too,she really seemed to want to make a change for her child and her sake, please have her contact me, larry
As a mother whose son was just sentenced to 3 yrs in San Quentin State Prison, CA, my heart is broken. My son came from a good family, I've done all the research and I can't wrap my arms, or my heart, around it. Please pray for my son, who sadly respects his gang ties more than his family. What does he think he can solve? Who does answer to? Certainly not himself, or the daughter he left behind. What good could ever come from any of this? How many lives must be lost before someone gets a clue, that life is good, and short, and should be cherished! What do I tell his 1yr old daughter? He has robbed his daughter, and his mother, of any hope for a real life. Sunday supper, Christmas, Birthdays. My heart is shattered.
i am totally crazy about prisons...i enjoy watching that kind of tv episodes!than u NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC CHANNEL for this fantastic program!!!
Hi i was just wondering how Natalie Tarascas was doing from the epsiode about Ogden Trece and gangs etc.. I hope she is doing well and i wish her all the best !! She is a beautiful girl and deserves to have a sucessful life with her and her daughter
This episode was really good, i would love to be able to contact Natalie Tarascas & see how her life is & how her & her family are doing.
first off i would like to let ogden trece and the so called surenos in utah that their fighting over nothing when yor gang has trece at the end of it that indicates that your a sureno gang! that just goes to show that people dont really know what gang banging is about.im from california the home of the gang bang i've lived and breathed gang bangin my whole life and it's not a game i've lost so many family members and best friends to gang violence.even though i've become a christian and gave my life to the lord im still active not on the streets,those who are real gangsters know what i mean.when i saw natalie for the first time i wanted to help her so bad she a beautiful young woman that doesnt know what lies ahead.if anybody reads this remember when you join a gang "A REAL GANG" there aint no getting out natalie im praying for you and i really hope that you open your eyes and see the big picture,i wish you the best and if you ever need advice on anything heres where you can find me i pray that you do find me because i believe i can help you and anybody else who needs guidence.i've seen it all and done it all over and over again.
I really enjoyed the show I think its just to bad that there are so many fine girls who are forced to join the gang life style. I feal so sorry for Natalie Trascas she is such a young beautiful woman who I belive has so much potential in life. I wish her the best in life and I wish I could get the chance to meet her in person or over the net.
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