Language and Communication in Prison
![handle is hein.journals/fedpro60 and id is 327 raw text is: Language and Communication in Prison*
By PETER M. WITTENBERG
Deputy Chief Office of National Policy Review, Federal Bureau of Prisons
Think like a wise man but communicate in the language of the people.
-William Butler Yeats
The new con, considered fresh mea by the screws and other prisoners, was sent to the cross-bar hotel to do his bit. He soon picked
up the reputation through the yard grapevine as a canay-bird. While he was at the big house, the goon squad put him in the
freezer for his protection. Eventually, he was released from the ice-box and ordered to make little ones out of big ones until he was
released to the free world. Upon release he received $100 in gate money, vowing never to be thrown in the hole or be thought of
as a stool-pigeon again.
AS THE paragraph above shows, prison society
has always had its own unique language. It is a
language that has evolved over the years. For in-
stance, the word con came into use around 1888.
Screws became a part of the lingo around 1900 while
hole dates to the 1600s. Many terms-some familiar
to persons outside prison walls, some not-have been
used by inmates (and prison staff). These terms (Beale,
1989; Lighter, 1994) include cage (meaning prison-
1636), barbed-wire city (1947), back-gate parole (dying
in prison-1929), creeper (correctional officer-1930),
can (prison-1912), coop (prison-1785), calaboose
(prison-1792), brig-rat (1821), gruel (prison food-
1797), punk (ca. 1900), and jacket (file--ca. 1870). Some
prison terms are directly related to a particular situa-
tion or item. The electric chair, first used in 1890, in-
spired terms such as getting fried (1933) and doing an
Edison Special (1974). Escapes have been called
crushing (1904) and crushing-out (1925).
Depending on circumstances, prison language can
enhance or damage communication between prison
staff and inmates. An incomplete understanding of in-
mate language patterns can easily lead to difficult (or
impossible) communication with the inmate popula-
tion. To understand the communication process in a
prison environment, a review of the different elements
of prison language is helpful. This article describes
types of special languages found in correctional settings
and explains how language and the process of commu-
nication are linked.
The Language of Prison
Argot
Prison language has its roots in codes and secret com-
munications that allowed criminals to communicate with
each other in privacy. This language, called argot (from
*Opinions expressed in this article are the author's and do
not necessarily represent the opinions of the Federal Bureau
of Prisons or the Department of Justice.
the French argot-a beggars' guild, criminal cant, slang
[McArthur, 1992]) has significant meaning to inmates.
As Morris and Rothman (1995) explain, it has played an
important role in establishing inmate identity:
Special language, or argot, with its own vocabulary and distinctive
patterns and word placement, brought a cohesiveness into inmate
life. The secrecy of communication among prisoners who shared a
separate language protected prisoners' privacy, even in the pres-
ence of intense surveillance. Coded communication allowed pris-
oners to define their relative status and rights, just as workers who
were members of corporations and guilds had their own argot used
to the same ends. Through words, whose meaning was known only
to the initiated few, the group reinforced its shared identity.
Cardozo-Freeman (1984) notes that use of codes has
evolved as part of inmate self-preservation:
By using codes which are not understood by the Man, or by other
cons who are outside your group, you are able to keep your busi-
ness off the streets. If your business is out in the open all the time,
then the chances of going to the Hole or getting rousted by the goon
squads all the time is hopefully lessened. A small group or clique
may deliberately keep their code to themselves and change it on a
regular basis if they hear others using it.
Codes have served yet another purpose. Gresham
Sykes (1958) believed that the prison language was not
developed primarily for secrecy or to establish alle-
giance between inmates or inmate groups, but as a il-
lustrative symbol of the prison community. The words
depicted their identity as inmates, convicts, outlaws, or
outcasts from society.
Criminal Cant
Criminal cant is similar to argot except that it is a
temporary form of language that changes quickly-
when persons outside the criminal group learn a word's
significance, the criminal group changes the word's
meaning or establishes other words to replace the
known one. Cant is often associated with gangs who
wish to keep their activities secret. As Cardozo-
Freeman (1984) explains,
Secret languages are a thriving folk tradition constantly used, par-
ticularly in Segregation and the Hole. They also surface and flour-
ish in the general population during periods when suspicion and
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Language and Communication in Prison
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