| What separates Salinas Valley State Prison from the | | | | Southern Mexicans and their attacks aren't arbitrary. |
| rest of the other California State Prisons is the | | | | They are currently at war with the White Prison |
| severe overcrowding. Inmates are stacked in dorm | | | | Gangs and have traded several vicious attacks. In this |
| like structures 3 bunks high. They live all day and | | | | environment you have to stand by your own, and |
| night with many angry men that never look out for | | | | you have to fight to protect them even if you get |
| your best interests. This living situation is a danger to | | | | badly injured or get time added to your original |
| themselves as well as the Correctional Officers or | | | | sentence. Those are the rules of the game in prison, |
| CO's. Some prisoners argue that an 8 by 7 foot | | | | you have to stick by and defend your own race. |
| concrete cell would be a lot more comfortable than | | | | There was an incident where 3 White People were |
| living in Cell Block C which is a makeshift dorm. 120 | | | | jumped by 20 Southern Mexicans and beaten |
| inmates all jammed on top of one another with no | | | | unconscious with Batteries, Socks and Shanks. A |
| bars, no cells, just a big open space with a lot of | | | | Shank is a common type of homemade knives made |
| upset convicts looking for an excuse to employ | | | | in prison. |
| violence. | | | | 70 Percent of criminals who enter Salinas Valley State |
| Most prisoners entering the Salinas Valley State | | | | Prison were in gangs before they came to prison. |
| Prison Cell Block C Dorm look for people of their color | | | | Correctional Officers currently battle over 200 |
| where they are safer. Each race owns their own | | | | attacks each year on C-Yard which is the gangs main |
| area of the dorm. Take a shortcut and you could get | | | | battleground. In fact at one time this year was the |
| beaten to a pulp by rival gangs. If you use the wrong | | | | most violent yard in the State of California. There are |
| toilet, you could get stabbed. Since inmates are not in | | | | four yards at Salinas Prison but Yard C is the most |
| cells they have no protection and no place to hide | | | | violent yard by far. From Level 4 Generals to Level 3 |
| when something goes down. There's no commissary, | | | | Foot Soldiers who carry out orders from the Shot |
| little recreation and a lot of empty time for a lot of | | | | Callers. The main gangs in Salinas Valley State Prison |
| edgy men. The term for this is called warehousing. | | | | are the Northern Mexicans, Southern Mexicans, the |
| Gangs control most of the inmates at Salinas Valley | | | | White Gangs, the African American Gangs and the |
| State Prison. The largest gang at Salinas are the | | | | "others", which includes Pacific Islanders and Asians. |