Texas prisons were relatively free of gangs until the mid-1970's, as a result of the strict control system and the suppression of racial tension by means of racial segregation. However, inmate gangs have posed a serious challenge for corrections managers for more than a decade. Currently, the prison system has 9 gangs with more than 50 members. The level of violence increased dramatically in 1984 and 1985, when 52 murders, 90 percent gang-related, occurred. To reduce gang control over prisons, the prison administration identified all known gang members in the prison system and placed them in administrative segregation, where they were single celled and locked down for 23 hours a day. In 1991, more than 1,500 known gang members were locked in administrative segregation. This control method has effectively limited the amount of violence, but its impacts on the inmate and the community are unknown. In addition, locking down identified gang members has not stopped the trafficking of drugs and contraband into the prison. New members are not as easy to identify as the original members, and new gangs have formed since the lockdown occurred. Thus, Texas officials have not solved the gang problem and will probably see more gangs in the future. Figures, notes, and 7 references