The European Kindred (EK) is a
prison
A prison, also known as a jail, gaol (dated, standard English, Australian, and historically in Canada), penitentiary (American English and Canadian English), detention center (or detention centre outside the US), correction center, corre ...
and
street gang that began in the
Oregon
Oregon () is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of its eastern boundary with Idaho. T ...
prison system.
Overview
As of 2006,
parole and probation officers report the gang may have around 500 members in the Oregon prison system.
EK members have a propensity for violence and are one of the most powerful gangs within the Oregon Department of Corrections.
The group was founded in 1998 by David Patrick Kennedy and another inmate of
Eastern Oregon
Eastern Oregon is the eastern part of the U.S. state of Oregon. It is not an officially recognized geographic entity; thus, the boundaries of the region vary according to context. It is sometimes understood to include only the eight easternmost ...
's
Snake River Correctional Institution. Membership in the EK is nearly exclusively male, and membership is restricted to those with no more than one-sixteenth Native American ancestry. The group has a formal structure, rules, and ritual. It is highly secretive.
The gang has a reputation for
extortion
Extortion is the practice of obtaining benefit through coercion. In most jurisdictions it is likely to constitute a criminal offence; the bulk of this article deals with such cases. Robbery is the simplest and most common form of extortion, ...
, assaults, moving contraband goods throughout the Oregon correctional institutions, and
dog fighting
Dog fighting is a type of blood sport that turns game and fighting dogs against each other in a physical fight, generally to the death, for the purposes of gambling or entertainment to the spectators. In rural areas, fights are often staged in ...
. New members are encouraged to "earn their bones" (their membership) through hostile action consistent with the group's cause.
A 2016
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...
documentary show entitled "A Black and White Killing" focused on the trial (and eventual conviction) of an EK gang member accused of the murder of a young black man. The documentary interviewed an ex-gang member, who stated that EK operates an unbreakable policy of 'Blood in, Blood out'. This rule requires that all potential new gang members must 'shed blood' as a condition of entry to the gang, typically in directed attacks made against members of rival gangs ('blood in'). The former member went on to explain that an attempt to leave the gang is seen as a betrayal of the 'brotherhood' of all remaining gang members - even those who are members of other gangs.
The price for attempting to leave the gang, once inducted, is one's life. The spilling of the deserting gang member's blood (during their subsequent murder) constitutes the requirement for 'blood out'.
There is no documented information indicating EK members attack prison guards. Outside of prison, EK members appear to be involved in the distribution and possibly manufacture of
.
EK members mark their membership with the initials EK in a shield on their right calf or on other parts of their bodies. Women are associated with the group, but are marked with the initials FW. The initials represent prison slang: F stands for "feather", prison slang for female, and W stands for "wood", prison slang for a caucasian.