Prison slang is anargot used primarily by criminals and detainees incorrectional institutions. It is a form ofanti-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; inCharles 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]
Prison slang, like other types ofslang anddialects, 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 Englishslang 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 theAnthropological 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]
| Term[5] | Definition |
|---|---|
| Bang | A drug injection (other terms include 'fix', 'hit' or 'shot'). |
| The boneyard | Protective custody |
| Booshwa/fit | Syringe |
| Bupe/subbie | Buprenorphine/subutex |
| Can | A can of soft drink used as a commodity |
| Cellie | Cellmate |
| Chief | The title prisoners are expected to use to address prison officers |
| Cockatoo | An inmate tasked with alerting other inmates that prison officers are approaching |
| Crim | Criminal/inmate |
| Dog | An informant |
| Greens | Prison clothing |
| Laggon | Prison sentence |
| The pound | Solitary confinement |
| Red light | 'Red light' is the code-word used by inmates to warn that prison officers are approaching |
| Rock spider | Child sex offender |
| Screw | Pejorative term for prison officer |
| Scrim | Pejorative term for inmates who work in clerical positions within the prison.Portmanteau of 'Screw' and 'Crim'. |
| Segro | Segregation wing |
| Shiv | Makeshift stabbing weapon |
| Spinner | An inmate acting strangely, highly associated with mental health issues |
| Sweeper | An inmate paid by the prison to do domestic duties |
| Tea leaf | Rhyming slang for Petty thief |
| Turtles | The Squad. Specially trained and heavily equipped prison officers tasked with searching cells and riot control |
| Uncle Bully | An inmate convicted of child sex offences; a reference to a character from the filmOnce Were Warriors. |
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Chokey | Category A prison |
| Bacon/Bacon Bonce | Nonce (sex offender) |
| Block/Box | Solitary confinement |
| Lifer | A prisoner serving a life sentence |
| Nick | Prison |
| Nerk/nirk | Stupid/unpleasant person/inmate |
| Nicker | Prison Chaplain |
| Nonce | 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,[6] possibly originating from a notorious prison ship namedHMS Pompee, that was anchored inPortsmouth 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 seriesPorridge – 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") |
| Shank | An improvised stabbing weapon |
| Term[3] | Definition |
|---|---|
| Bagman[8] | In organized crime, one who is charged with "collecting or distributing the money involved". |
| Bang[9] | A drug injection (other terms include 'fix', 'hit' or 'shot') |
| Bones | Dominoes |
| Bonzo | A known child predator who is forced into sexual slavery to a stronger inmate for protection from other sexually violent inmates. |
| Books | Inmate cash account |
| Bitch | An institutionally taboo epithet suggesting an inmate's femininity, helplessness and sexual submissiveness; alternately, any female |
| Bunk restriction | A form of inmate-imposed punishment entailing an inmate remaining in their bunk except to use the bathroom or receive meals |
| Bunk warrior | An inmate who attempts to intimidate or upset other inmates but will not fight them |
| Burned | A state of defeat and exhaustion of possible appeals, used similar to "screwed" |
| Cheeto | An openly homosexual or transgender inmate |
| Chicano | Chicano, feminine form Chicana, identifier for people of Mexican descent born in the United States. |
| Chicken | Money/cigarette |
| Chief | Native American inmate |
| Chit-chat | Inmate-directed corporal punishment |
| Cho-Mo | Inmate incarcerated for child molestation |
| C.O./D.O. | Correctional Officer/Detention Officer |
| Fish | A new or inexperienced inmate |
| Gassing[10] | Throwing feces or other bodily fluids at a prison staff member or other inmate |
| Hack | A prison guard or official |
| 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 legal advice, possibly unqualified or specious, often reassuring another inmate of their positive prospects in the criminal justice process, or an inmate who represents themselves |
| 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 | Derogatory term for 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 | AnInformant (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 meaningsolitary confinement (from the official term "administrative segregation") |
| Shank/Shiv | An improvised stabbing weapon |
| Shot out | An inmate recovering from opiate withdrawal |
| Slop | 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 |
| Toad | A derogatory term for a black 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) |
| Term[11] | Definition |
|---|---|
| Base | Mattress |
| Bomb | Explosive or banned commodities |
| Boma | Prison |
| Bongirlfaya | 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) |
