Speculation on my part and probably too far fetched, BUT...aren't there gangs that require new members and recruits to commit acts of violence or murder to "prove their worthiness" to become members? I'm seeing this crazy scenario where someone needing a drug "runner" targets young adults in dead-end, poorly paying jobs (a la Walmart). B&K agree, and do the run to Whitehorse to "deliver" said drugs. They are then instructed to perform the initiation rites if they want more money and "assignments" - under threat of turning them in to police for the drug running or suffering harm themselves.
Perhaps they lost hope because this gang, operating at such a debased level, would have physically gotten to them and harmed or killed them, even if they were in jail. So they knew they were goners, whether they turned themselves in or not.
JMO and my overactive imagination.