Is It Who You Know in Prison That Counts? Exposure to Prison Gang Members and Criminal Careers.

This article investigates the long-term impact of connections to prison gang members on the criminal careers of incarcerated youth, focusing on a specific youth prison gang (referred to as the CS gang) formed between 2000 and 2010 in British Columbia, Canada. Using unique social network data from the Incarcerated Serious and Violent Young Offender Study (ISVYOS), the study finds that non-gang youth who were socially closer (had shorter social distance) to active prison gang members during the gang's operation had longer criminal careers than both non-gang youth more distantly connected and the gang members themselves. The timing of exposure—particularly during the gang's active period—and social proximity to gang members were significant predictors of extended criminal involvement, suggesting that prison can serve as a setting where criminal and gang-related social capital is accumulated. These findings highlight the importance of considering the social networks formed in incarceration and their potential influence on post-release criminal trajectories.