The Aryan Brotherhood is being shut down for the most part through segregation - they were causing a lot of problems (obviously) and killing a lot of inmates - although they had a lot of nonmember "punk" types that did a lot of the dirty work. The AB are some tough guys, for sure, but they're mostly just street brawlers - I don't think they've got the tactical know how or structured combative training that our SF guys do. I'd confidently say that if you put some con AB guy up against a DF or Seal, that the SF guy would be on top 90% of the time.

Showing respect isn't the same as being friendly in my case - I wasn't buddies w/ any of them (well, I did have one highschool friend of mine that was in for a while), but I didn't talk down to them for no reason. I did put people in the hole whenever they got mouthy or disrespectful though - but I also treated them right when they were respectful towards me. I'd let them watch TV for an extra hour after lights out, or give them a few extra minutes to shower - but I didn't run a loose ship or anything! Again, a jail is different from a prison though, in that about 80% of these guys and girls end up getting out after a short stay and you see them later when you're out at the grocery store w/ your wife and kids. They also generally behave well since bad behavior in jail can come up during sentencing at court.