Guards need to channel any kind of unrest away from themselves and onto another group. They also need to prevent racial flare-ups to begin with. For this reason, each race has its own barber who uses his clippers only on members of one race. Each race is also assigned a certain number of beds. Although no formal divisions of eating facilities are enforced, inmates regularly segregate themselves.
Unstated rules prohibit blacks and whites from exchanging food, candy, or cigarettes.
Madow's story is confirmed by a fellow inmate, probation violator Aristotle Zylexio Starchild, a Pacific Islander from Papua New Guinea. As for Madow, he was able to sidestep gang affiliation because of his age - at 42, nearly twice the prison average, by being college educated, and by being in the one race, white, for which there were no subgroups. Now that he is out, he still avoids physical and eye contact with other races and doesn't start conversations or share with those of other ethnic groups. Youth fare even worse, Starchild and Madow aver. Prison officials admit that attempts to prevent such episodes through counseling don't often work.