Aryan Circle

The Aryan Circle is a white prison gang in Texas, originally founded as "Aryan Christians" until they learned that this excluded Odinists and other non-Christian Neo-Nazis. It was founded in 1985 in order to keep the prison-centered white supremacist movement alive, as a reaction against attempts by an older and more prominent prison gang, the Aryan Brotherhood, to de-emphasize its criminal ties and focus more on reforming inmates.

Activity
Most of the Circle's activity is traditional criminal activity, such as armed robbery and meth trafficking. They also engage in hate crimes, as well as killing each other and members of rival Aryan groups. In recent years, however, they have claimed to disavow this sort of crime in favor of "community support" for fellow white people, and trying to reform white prisoners into better people. The facts, on the other hand, show differently: the Circle is still an important part of the meth trade in Texas.

Membership
The Aryan Circle prefers to recruit from among short-term prison inmates, in order to spread its influence beyond prison. Recruits are hand-picked by existing Circle members, and during their probationary period (about 12 months long) they are ordered by Circle leaders to kill someone, thus assuring their loyalty.