Clink Street, London. Site of Clink Prison, one of England's oldest prisons and origin of the slang "In Clink". Now home to a museum of the prison, the remains of Winchester Palace and a Starbucks.
Prison slang is an argot used primarily by criminals and detainees in correctional institutions. It is a form of anti-language.[1] Many of the terms deal with criminal behavior, incarcerated life, legal cases, street life, and different types of inmates. Prison slang varies depending on institution, region, and country.[2] Prison slang can be found in other written forms such as diaries, letters, tattoos, ballads, songs, and poems.[2] Prison slang has existed as long as there have been crime and prisons; in Charles Dickens' time it was known as "thieves' cant". Words from prison slang often eventually migrate into common usage, such as "snitch", "ducking", and "narc". Terms can also lose meaning or become obsolete such as "slammer" and "bull-derm."[2]
Examples
Prison slang, like other types of slang and dialects, varies by region. For that reason, the origins and the movement of prison slang across prisons are of interest to many linguists and cultural anthropologists.
Some prison slang are quite old. For example, "to cart", meaning to transfer to another prison, has been in use in Glasgow since 1733.[1]
A two-year study was done by Bert Little, Ph.D. on American English slang with the main focus being in the coastal plain region of the Southeast U.S.[3] His study published by The Trustees of Indiana University on behalf of the Anthropological Linguistics journal goes on to provide an extensive glossary of common prison slang terms that he found circling through the prison systems.[3] Studies by Alicja Dziedzic-Rawska from the Maria Curie-Skłodowska University in Poland describe prison slang as "extremely rich and creative" with new words being formed on a daily basis. These are mainly used as a means of security against unauthorized parties receiving a certain message and, in some cases, can be a way to ensure a prison inmate's survival within the cells.[4]
A person in prison for offences against children. Origin of the word is disputed, however, originally applied to any segregated prisoner.
Pompey
Northern England slang for a prison,[7] possibly originating from a notorious prison ship named HMS Pompee, that was anchored in Portsmouth Harbour in the early nineteenth century.
Porridge
One time main meal (alleged) used as term for doing a prison sentence. Popularised by the popular BBC series Porridge – which in turn popularized many prison slang words. The term 'Stir' also meaning time spent inside, is a derivation from the term Porridge.
Screw
Prison Officer – probably originating from a Victorian form of punishment involving a wheel to be turned on which a screw could be turned to make it more or less difficult. Possibly also from the pattern of walking to the end of a row of cells, turning, and walking back, constantly rotating like a screw
Slop out
Time reserved for prisoners to clean out human waste accumulated during lock up times
Snout/burner
A cigarette. Snout generally refers to tobacco or cigarettes when used as currency within prison.
Squealer, Rat, Grass
An informant
Stir
Serving a sentence (literally 'prison' in "in stir" or "doing stir")
Throwing feces or other bodily fluids at a prison staff member or other inmate
The Hole
A separate, isolated unit with reduced privileges (such as payphones, television, games); alternately, solitary confinement
Iced
A term for killing another inmate or prison guard
Institutional 9
A Correctional Officer, visitor or prison employee inmates find attractive, due solely to extended confinement from other candidates
Items
A standard denominational currency (esp. in low and medium security institutions), often a snack bought from the prison commissary at the median price of snacks (eg, $1 snacks)
Jacket
A prisoner's central file
Jailhouse lawyer
An inmate who provides unqualified or specious legal advice, often reassuring another inmate of their positive prospects in the criminal justice process
J-Cat
A disruptive inmate who causes disorder through highly irregular behavior in a jail module or prison yard, typically associated with those with drug or mental health issues.
Keys
As in, "Holds the keys;" the inmate with the highest tenure responsible for administration of the whole pod's gang
Kinfolk
A Black American inmate; also, "kin"
Longjohn
A person who is not incarcerated and is having sexual relations with an inmate's wife
O.G.
An older inmate
Paisà
An inmate with Italian origins. Paisà is a dialectal and regional word, used especially in South Italy, corresponding to standard Italian paesano, or compaesano, which means 'from the same village' or ‘from the same land’.
P.C.
Protective custody
Peckerwood
A white inmate (also "Wood," "Woodpecker")
Punk
A weaker inmate forced into sexual slavery to a stronger one for protection from other sexually violent inmates; otherwise a compulsively annoying inmate
Rat
An Informant (an inmate who informs prison officials of any illicit activity within the prison system including prisoners and guards), also "snitch"
Rank
An inmate's position based on prior and/or current tenure in the prison system
Seg
A term meaning solitary confinement (from the official term "administrative segregation")
An institutionally prepared entrée consisting of bland or poorly prepared vegetables
Spread
An improvised combination of several commissary items into a single meal split among contributing inmates; also goulash, gumbo, soup
Take Flight
To initiate a fight with or jump another inmate
Torpedo
An inmate volunteer selected by a gang leader to corporally punish an inmate who violates inmate rules
The Wall, Thunderdome, El Baño
An area where inmates fight or are subject to internally imposed corporal punishment, usually away from surveillance cameras or correctional officers (eg, bathrooms)
Translates to the word "wildcat," means "peeping" (in reference to a cat's vision and sly behavior)
Cash
Money/bathing soap (due to soap being a commodity)
Chitima
Translates to the word "train," means "inmates who water the garden in a 'line' form"
Chikepe
Translates to the words "boat" or "ship," means "escaping from prison" (an allusion to a lonely ship smoothly sailing in a large sea)
Chikopokopo
Translates to the word "helicopter," means "tractor" (an allusion to a tractor's noise in a quiet environment)
Chibhonda
A person who was homeless or living on the streets before they arrived to prison
Chibhengebhenge
Translates to "useless person," means "noise" (an idiophone of a person's unproductive speech)
Dambarefu
Translates to "long play," means "a life sentence or a sentence that is ten years or longer" (in reference to the Long Play Record)
Dzokufa
Translates to "beans," means "the dead ones" (in reference to dried beans)
Gavhunga
Roughly cut green vegetables
Gumbakumba
Translates to "UD Nissan truck used to transport prisoners," means "collect" or "grab" (in reference to the Shona idiom that a person or animal that is not picky collects anything and everything)
Gozhla
Groceries
Ginyabvu
Translates to "an inmate charged with rape," means "to force" or "forcefully take"
Getsi getsi pascreen
Translates to "opening statement when someone is telling a story or movie," means "power" or "light on the screen"
Jega mudhuri
Translates to "leaning on the wall when the officers are counting prisoners in the cells," means "to carry the wall"
Kaza
Car
Kule
A respectful way of saying "grandfather" or "uncle"
Kudhonza tambo
Translates to "pretending to be sick", means "to pull a string" (in reference to wasting time)
Kucheka
Translates to "sexual intercourse," means "to cut" (could be in reference to homosexual sex, painful sex, or could be used by inmates to throw off officers from its original meaning)
Makadhibhokisi
Translates to "an inmate who leaks information to prison officers," means a snitch (in reference to the image of leaking)
Mwana
Translates to "child" (in reference to a man taking a female role)
Matabawo
Tablets/medication
Mutsara
Translates to "line," means "meat" (in reference to meat being a scarce commodity, thus becoming a "line" to opportunities)
Musoro wechitima
Translates to "head of the train," means "gang leader"
Munyoro
Translates to "soft one," means "a new inmate"
Muchini
Translates to "machine," means "needle"
Mbuya
A respectful way of saying "grandmother" or "aunt"
Mavhiri mudenga
Translates to "wheels in the air," means a beating underneath the feet
Mari
Translates to "money," refers to commodities that can be traded
Ngayaya
Marijuana
Nzondora
Translates to "chicken feet," refers to homosexual (in reference to chicken feet being a delicacy, could be in reference to enjoying something pleasurable)
Noczim
Cooking oil (in reference to the acronym for National Oil Company of Zimbabwe)
Ndege
Maniac or mentally-challenged
OK (Supermarket)
Rubbish pit
Panze
Outside
Police
A snitch (in reference to an inmate cooperating with the police who is then considered an ally of the police)
Razor
A small space where an inmate sleeps on
Stodart
Story telling or movie watching
Seridha
Cell
Shop dambu
Translates to "breaking a shop," means shoplifting (in reference to breaking into a shop and shoplifting)
Thornhill
Maniac or mentally-challenged (in reference to the Thornhill Airbase, an allusion to an airplane)
TV (television)
Window
TM (Supermarket)
Rubbish pit
Whiters
Fresh or sour cow's milk
Zvibhezhi
A hospital, clinic, or dispensary
Zviwanikwa
Translates to "discoverable," means illegal items (in reference to valuable commodities)
References
^ abMayr, A. 2012. Prison Language. The Encyclopedia of Applied Linguistics.