of management and form part of the culture of the prison. During times of unrest or violence, management holds talks with the leaders of gangs which only contributes to the recognition and institutionalisation of the gangs. This has only increased the corruption and influence of the gangs as authorities are being used to smuggle illicit substances into prisons. The authorities seem to have no concrete policy on how to tackle the problem. They seem to have resigned to the fact that it is part of the prison system. Some prisons are moving gang leaders from one prison to another in a bid to minimize their activities – but the institutionalization of the gang network is such that communication between the prisons is very easy and before a gang leader arrives in a certain prison, his followers are aware of his arrival. In terms of the gang hierarchy, a leader retains his position wherever he is transferred. Therefore, a General would remain a General in whichever prison they are sent. It is almost automatic that each prisoner must belong to a gang. Prisoners who choose not to belong to a gang are abuse at the hands of gang members, including rape and robbery. Prisoners freely admitted to belonging to gangs. They said that the reason that they were gang members was because of the protection offered by the gang system. Other benefits of being a member of a gang includes favours, control and power and the probability of having sex with weaker gang members. Gangs affect prison management and prisoners alike. It was noted that some of the gangs are so powerful as to influence even the highest authorities in some prisons. Gangs seriously affect the rehabilitation programme and can seriously compromise security in prisons. It is noted that because of the hierarchical nature of the gang system, junior members are not free or allowed to talk or disagree with a senior member on any issue. Thus, gang members of different ranks cannot disagree in class for fear of victimization, junior members would be reluctant to participate in rehabilitation programmes with senior members. Unchecked outbursts of violence occur among the gangs in many prisons, violating prisoners' right to life, liberty and integrity. The combination of severe overcrowding, shortage of staff, and availability of weapons in prisons makes violence inevitable. Inmates are usually killed by other inmates. Prison homicides are so frequent as to seem routine. But inmate-on-inmate violence is usually the predictable result of official negligence. By neglecting to supervise and control the inmates within their facilities, failing to respond to incidents of violence, corruptly allowing the entry of dangerous weapons into the prisons, and by abetting gangsterism, prison authorities are directly responsible for the violence in their facilities. Concrete measures must be taken to deal with gangsterism in prison and effective measures taken to deal with officials who cooperate with the gangs. Effective rehabilitation activities should be developed to ensure that when offenders are released they do not have cause to rejoin their gangs that operate outside of prisons. The gang phenomenon cannot be left to continue uncontrolled. The risk of doing so would be catastrophic to penal reform in general and rehabilitation in particular. The prison must develop a coherent strategy of dealing with gangs, other than the temporary isolation of their leaders. The source of power and wealth must be carefully examined and checked in order to remove their power-base. 53