SYSTEMATIC STRATIFICATION AND FORMAL ORGANIZATION ARE THE BACKGROUND AGAINST WHICH PRIMARY GROUPS, ATTITUDES, AND INDIVIDUAL AND GROUP CONFLICT DEVELOP. INMATE BEHAVIOR CANNOT BE UNDERSTOOD WITHOUT REFERENCE TO THESE ALLEGIANCES AND COMMITMENTS. IT IS NOT SURPRISING THAT IN RECENT YEARS OF HEIGHTENED RACIAL CONSCIOUSNESS THROUGHOUT AMERICAN SOCIETY, RACIAL IDENTITY WITHIN PRISON HAS BECOME INCREASINGLY PROMINENT. YOUNG PRISONERS ARE SUPPLANTING THEIR CRIMINAL IDENTITIES WITH A RACIAL-ETHNIC IDENTITY. BLACK AWARENESS IS NOT LIMITED TO GROUPS LIKE THE PANTHERS AND THE MUSLIMS; IT IS THE MOST SIGNIFICANT REFERENT EVEN FOR THOSE PRISONERS WITHOUT FORMAL AND INFORMAL GROUP TIES. HEIGHTENED RACIAL AWARENESS AMONG WHITES FOR WHOM RACE WAS NEVER BEFORE PARTICULARLY IMPORTANT IS ONE CONSEQUENCE OF THE RACIAL TENSIONS IMPOSED BY BLACK AWARENESS. MEMBERSHIP IN TRADITIONAL RELIGIOUS SECTS HAS NOT HISTORICALLY SERVED AS A BASIS FOR COLLECTIVE INMATE BEHAVIOR IN PRISON. THIS MAY BE EXPLAINED BY THE FACT THAT TRADITIONAL JUDEO-CHRISTIAN VALUES ARE OFFENDED BY CRIMINALS AND OFFER NO RADICAL REDEFINITION OF THEIR SITUATION UPON WHICH ORGANIZED PROTEST CAN BE BASED. HOWEVER, UNCONVENTIONAL RELIGIONS HAVE ACHIEVED CONSIDERABLE SUCCESS IN PROVIDING AN IDEOLOGICAL SHIELD TO THE ASSAULTS ON SELF-CONCEPT THAT ATTEND IMPRISONMENT. PERHAPS THE FIRST INSTANCE OF A LARGE, WELL-ORGANIZED SECONDARY GROUP EMERGING WITHIN THE PRISON IS REPRESENTED BY THE JEHOVAH'S WITNESSESS. DURING WORLD WAR II, 3,992 JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES WERE INCARCERATED FOR REFUSING MILITARY SERVICE. WHILE THEY WERE THE FIRST GROUP TO COME TO PRISON WITH THE INTENTION OF SERVING GROUP TIME RATHER THAN INDIVIDUAL TIME, THEIR IMPACT WAS LIMITED TO THE FEDERAL SYSTEM AND TO A RELATIVELY SHORT NUMBER OF YEARS. THE BLACK MUSLIMS ARE BY FAR THE MOST SUCCESSFUL AND MOST ORGANIZED RELIGIOUS GROUP WITHIN PRISONS NATIONWIDE. THEIR IMPACT ON THE FIELD OF CORRECTIONS, PARTICULARLY PRISONERS' RIGHTS LITIGATION, HAS YET TO BE ADEQUATELY ASSESSED. THE ALLEGIANCE OF INCARCERATED MEN TO POLITICAL GROUPS IS SOMETHING NEW IN THE U.S. SINCE PRISONERS HAVE BEEN EFFECTIVELY DISENFRANCHISED IN ALL STATES, POLITICAL PARTIES NEVER EVIDENCED MUCH CONCERN FOR PRISONER POPULATIONS. RADICAL GROUPS, HOWEVER, HAVE SEEN IN PRISONERS NOT MERELY BODIES TO SWELL MEMBERSHIP ROLLS, BUT A REVOLUTIONARY FORCE THAT NEEDS ONLY TO BE MOBILIZED. THE TWO MOST SIGNIFICANT GROUPS ARE THE BLACK PANTHER PARTY (MARXIST-LENINIST) AND THE YOUNG LORDS PARTY (PUERTO RICAN), ATHOUGH THERE ALSO APPEARS TO HAVE BEEN A SMALL GROUP OF WEATHERMEN AND OTHER RADICALS AT ATTICA. NOTES ARE INCLUDED. (KBL)