So here we have the end of the line for people who want to control others: folks who have broken the rules and need to be isolated. The state can control literally every aspect of their lives: where they live, what they eat, who they associate with, and so on.<p>Guess what? There's still crime, gangs, an informal government, and an economy. And you either kill them all (as one person in the article said, a bullet to the back of the head does wonders for behavior) or you allow it to happen.<p>I know there's the usual "America is a police state!" response to this article, and sure enough, we have created a security state, but more fascinating to me was the complex self-governing structures these inmates have set up -- which is exactly why the economist was studying them.<p>There's a huge academic and political debate that this ties into. For instance, do governments create markets and money? From the data presented in the article, no. They might dictate the terms of markets, to a small degree, but they're just a bit player. Can more laws eliminate crime? No. At some point, even when you have total control over each and every person, crime still happens. I don't know where the curve is, but there is a power curve at work, and you can reach the point of diminishing returns. It made more sense for the corrections officers to allow the gang activity that to continue to try to fight it.<p>Fascinating stuff, and of course this article is nowhere near authoritative. Still, I'd love to hear more about research in this area.