| Term[3] |
Definition |
| Bagman |
Someone who is in possession of drugs |
| Bang[8] |
A drug injection (other terms include 'fix', 'hit' or 'shot') |
| Bones |
Dominoes |
| 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 trans-identified inmate |
| Chester |
Slang term for an inmate incarcerated for child molestation |
| Chicano |
An American-born inmate identifying Central American descent, especially those speaking English as a first language |
| Chicken |
Money/ cigarette |
| Chief |
Native American-identified inmate |
| Chit-chat |
Inmate-directed corporal punishment |
| Cho-Mo |
Inmate incarcerated for child molestation |
| Chow |
Meal |
| C.O./D.O. |
Correctional Officer/Detention Officer |
| Fish |
A new or inexperienced inmate |
| Green |
A term for paper money; also, flow, dough |
| 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) |
| 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 a whole pod's gang |
| Kinfolk |
A Black American-identified 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 |
| Paisa |
An inmate identified with Mexican or Central American birth, especially Spanish-speaking as a first language (Southwestern United States) |
| 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 |
| Red |
An individual with red hair |
| Seg |
A term meaning solitary 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 |
| Snuffed |
A term for anyone who has been murdered |
| 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 |
| Trips |
Hallucinogens, sometimes legal peyote buttons acquired from Native American inmates |
| 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) |
