PRISON 101

*Today marks 8 months...our hope is that by month 9, we have heard back from the review committee over community corrections and Brandon will be accepted!

Prison culture is something that can only be truly understood from the inside. No TV documentary or blog can fully capture or properly articulate the experience of American incarceration. We incarcerate more people for more time than practically the rest of the world combined. I'm asked all the time if I thing our system is broken-I hesitate to weigh in on this because although I do feel that there are problems with the system, I don't have any good answers on how to fix it; I refuse to be the guy who brings up problems without proposing solutions. 

I do know this-the judge that sentenced me has promised to sentence those who appear before him to a combined one million years in prison-it doesn't sit right with me that judges should make promises like that. I digress; at the end of the day with the vast amounts of people coming in and out of prison, there is bound to be a micro-culture of rules, politics, gang hierarchies and languages. My situation has been unique because my first encounter with the law has resulted in a prison sentence. Although there are a few other inmates in here for the first time, they have typically had multiple encounters with the law and have spent extended periods of time in county jails. So by the time they are finally sentenced to prison, they've spent enough time behind bars to understand the nuances of prison; vocabulary, gang rules, political rules of the yard, things you can and cannot say or do, interactions with the guards, inmate rules, etc..

 As I mentioned before, Sallie regularly brings up things that I say that she doesn't understand-whether they are words or ideas that I have forgotten mean nothing to anyone who isn't in prison. So, in an effort to introduce you all to some of these words and ideas, I have put together this post. As a disclaimer, this post will have a movie rating of PG-13. If I were aiming to be be completely authentic- it would be R++, but I am not going there. But it will contain words and ideas that may not be suitable for everyone.

-In the prison world there are two unpardonable sins-crimes against children and crimes against women. Criminals who have committed these types of crimes have a couple of options-they get beat up/killed, they are segregated from the general population by the DOC or they "pay rent."

When new prisoners arrive at a facility they are often required to "check-in" with the head of the dominant gang. The "check-in" process requires you to show your court papers citing your crimes. If any of your crimes involve children or women you are told that you must pay "rent" to that respective gang. In return for paying them "rent" they agree to not hurt you for your crimes and also will protect you from anyone else trying to make you pay for your crimes.

-Slide "to slide someone out" Just another way of saying that you're going to take someone out via physical force.

-Shank- "to shank someone" another way of saying that you're going to stab someone. Shanks can be made from a toothbrush, butter knife, plastic..I've never seen someone stabbed in here but I have seen shanks.

Any fighting that needs to happen is done inside of bedrooms or bathrooms only. If you are caught fighting, it is an automatic write-up which can extend your sentence by one year. Fighting inside a bedroom cell can be difficult because they are so small. If the guards suspect that any fighting has occurred, the facility is immediately locked down and we are required to strip down to our underwear to check bodies and knuckles for any signs of fighting. Since I have been here we have been locked down 15-20 times (in 7 months). At higher level facilities, they are locked down on a daily basis. 

-Chow- all meals are referred to as "chow."

-Tech- "a tech man" is someone that stands watch looking for guards while something devious is going on-like fighting or tattooing. 

There are two words that are off limits to use when speaking to other inmates-unless you are trying to invoke a call-to-arms. Inmates are bound by their code to fight if someone ever calls them a "punk" or a "bitch." I find this whole scenario completely hilarious particularly taking offense to the word, punk.  But I have seen some very serious retaliation when those words have actually been used.

-Pile- "weight pile" The outdoor weight set where you work out.

-Yard- "prison yard" The outdoor portion of the facility.

-Celly- "my celly" My roommate or cell-mate. (Sal's favorite word)

-This wouldn't be a prison post without talk about rape. Over the past few years there has been a tremendous effort nationally to protect inmates from sexual violence while incarcerated. Does it still happen? Absolutely. But from what I can gather, things have gotten much safer. There are cameras everywhere and guards have been trained on spotting things before the happen. I also feel like there is a large group of openly gay inmates at every facility who essentially eliminate the need for sex through violence. 

-Dope- It's always been a mystery to me what specific drugs people are referring to when they say"dope." A quick poll amongst my fellow inmates seems to lean in favor of dope being meth-but some say it can be heroine as well. 

-Kite- "I'll send my case manager a kite." I still can't figure out the origins of this word but anytime you send correspondence in prison, it is referred to as a kite. 

-Hit- "The guards caught you fighting, you're hit." I actually love this word. The best definition is "to be in trouble or in a "bind" but I find myself using more than any new word in prison. 

-Store- "I'm out of Top Ramen, I'll have to go to the store."In prison you have the opportunity to order food/supplies once a week-it's called "canteen." The store is a reference to buying things from other inmates. It is against the rules but I can't imagine any prison in America that doesn't have it happening. Going to the store can be expensive-the cost is usually 200% higher than canteen.

-Snitch/Rat- "He snitched on me." This is a term used on the outside too and self explanatory. When someone tells on you they are a snitch or a rat. In here, being known as a snitch is up there with violence against women and children. 

-As I told you about in my previous post, I was visited by some of our best lifetime friends-Stan and Michelle Merrill. Michelle commented that she noticed that my eyes were constantly spanning the room and asked me about it. I told her that in here you always need to be aware of where other inmates are at all times. You are also conditioned to always know where the guards are. I can't really explain why I've developed the habit in here. I am not afraid of getting jumped or anything but I feel the need to have an inventory of everyone in my vicinity and their movements at all times.

-Gangs- There are gangs and gang politics everywhere you turn in prison. Early on is my prison experience, I was was recruited to join any number of gangs. I obviously declined. It is fascinating to me to see the power and organization of some of these gangs in here. 

It's almost respectable to see the codes, rules, and brotherhoods that they all live by. I'm not naive enough to know the destruction and evil that can come from the same organizations. But truth be known, I am surrounded on a daily basis by members of gangs-I workout with them, I work with them, I talk with them-and every one of them, not matter the gang, has always treated me with mutual respect. 

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