CHEYENNE - Gang influence is spreading in the Wyoming State Penitentiary at Rawlins with lightning speed, an American Civil Liberties Attorney warned Tuesday.

In a letter to the Wyoming attorney general's office, Stephen Pevar cited a report on the assault of an unidentified Wyoming State Penitentiary inmate who apparently tried to leave a gang.

Pevar noted that as recently as November 2004, an expert report said the State Penitentiary had been relatively free of gang threats. The report said the prison staff viewed gangs as only a "potential problem."

"Times sure have changed since then," Pevar added, referring to a report on the assault by the prison investigative unit.

The Wyoming Department of Corrections began what it called a proactive approach to the management of gangs with adoption last year of a policy called "Management of Security Threat Groups" that allows zero tolerance for gang activity.

"Gangs are not new to the field of corrections. We want to stay ahead of any attempts to organize such activities in the Department of Corrections," Director Bob Lampert said in a statement Tuesday afternoon.

Pevar, meanwhile, said the inmate, a member of the so-called "307" gang, was transferred from the Rawlins prison to a prison in Oklahoma due to overcrowding.

"When he notified fellow gang members that he wanted to leave the gang, he was threatened with assault. He began carrying a homemade knife to defend himself," Pevar wrote.

In an apparent effort to get transferred back to the Wyoming State Penitentiary, the inmate broke the Oklahoma prison rules.

Upon returning to the Rawlins prison in March, the inmate told two prison employees that he thought there was a "hit" on him because he tried to leave the 307 gang. But, because he could not identify anyone who might assault him, the inmate remained in the general prison population.

"Just hours later - and only one week after his return from Oklahoma - four prisoners assaulted Mr. Doe in a premeditated attack," Pevar wrote.

The report from the prison's investigative unit noted that prisoners who wish to join gangs are often required by gang leaders to assault other prisoners as part of their initiation. Prospective gang members, Pevar wrote, may have been among those who assaulted the inmate.

Pevar said the State Penitentiary "to its credit is undertaking numerous efforts to track gangs and to halt this gang influence. But what this incident illustrates in rather frightening fashion is how pervasive and powerful gangs are becoming at WSP," he wrote.

The report, he added, even found that gangs may have become so sophisticated at the prison that gang leaders may have been designated in each pod, and that only those leaders have the authority to target prisoner for assaults.

"In other words, these gangs may have developed an internal hierarchy and are becoming quite organized both in terms of their illegal activities and in their enforcement techniques," Pevar's letter said.

Pevar represents the ACLU in its lawsuit against the state over inmate-on-inmate assaults at the State Penitentiary. The case still is under the jurisdiction of U.S. District Judge Clarence Brimmer in Cheyenne.

Capital bureau reporter Joan Barron can be reached at (307) 632-1244 or at joan.barron@casperstartribune.net.