Earlier quoted context omitted.
I don't think criminal society is that well integrated. Nor that the people commonly a part of it are particularly 'with it' individuals. After all - drawing left to right top to bottom, from the FBI most wanted list as of shortly before this post - we have: 1) Kidnap and murder of a little girl 2) Beating and raping a woman in march 1998 - Alleged beating, raping and murder of a second woman while out on bail 3) All…
I'm guessing you've never been to jail. There is a pervasive subculture with a long history there.
You have an isolated group of people: how surprising is it that a social animal develops its own culture distinct from the larger population that they are forcibly segregated from?
This social phenomena has persisted for a long time: Is the length of the history indicative of some quality unique to members of the subculture or is it one of the necessary byproducts of existence of a legal system?