Soon after the 1994, Utah prison killing of a black inmate by a white who stabbed him 67 times, yelling “white power,” Utah police noticed an influx of organized white supremacist gangs taking root outside prison, says the Salt Lake Tribune. In later years, hundreds of prisoners identified as white supremacists were released to halfway houses and parole offices. Many brought their allegiances – and criminal proclivities – with them.
Among their ranks was Curtis Michael Allgier, who first went to prison in 2001 for burglary, forgery, and theft. During his incarceration, officials say, Allgier linked up with white supremacists, adopted their hateful ideology and covered his face and body in neo-Nazi tattoos. On Monday, Allgier allegedly overpowered and shot to death Stephen Anderson, a 60-year-old corrections officer during a hospital visit. at University Hospital. “It used to be that in the ’70s, the ’80s and the ’90s, that the vast majority of prison gang activities took place within the confines of the prison system,” said Anti-Defamation League researcher Mark Pitcavage. “That is no longer the case.” Pitcavage and other experts said that, once on the outside, supremacists are not only committed to white-power politics but also – and sometimes more so – to larceny, drug trafficking, identity theft, and fraud.