The penetrating look at the violence that swept prisons in the 1980 s and 1990 s and the organizational structure mirroring the Mafia that erupted in them. The inmates had to make a choice between joining a gang that offered protection, friendships, financial rewards, access to drugs and other contraband or serving as a lone inmate in a dangerous, even lethal world. The worst in this violent world were sent to a supermax prison. Tamms in Illinois was one of those supermax prisons. This is the story of Tamms.