The Inmate Code
Geoffery Truss
Dixon Correctional Center

The "inmate code" is one similar to any other institution's or
groups unwritten bylaws, such as the police "code blue," which is the
act of one officer covering for another, wrong or right (usually
wrong), or the "blue flue," where police stand united in calling      
off work by calling in sick to protest working conditions.

Just as many attributes of the code exist in other instutions,
such as students not "ratting out" other students they see cheating,
or professors ignoring violations by their peers, the most outstanding
attrivute that comes to mind for inmates is the "code of loyalty."
This occurs, for example, when one inmate will not inform prison
authorites or other parties about another ainmate's actions. This is 
commonly referred to as "not snitching; no ratting; no dry snitching
((NOTE: WHAT IS "DRY SNITCHING?"); no squealing; no stool pigeoning.

This long standing code, one which probablyi existed since the
first prisons, was intended to protect the prisoner from administrative
punishment, whether the prisoner was wrong or right. This norm
is shared by many other social groups, but is protrayed in media
and by researchers as something unique to prisoners.

However, in the late 1970s and early 1980s, the federal government
implimented an unwritten policy in which accomplices in a crime
could freely testify against their partners and the reward could
include immunity, the "undervocer snitgh program," a reduced sentence,
or witness protections. This unwritten poilcy was commonly called
"whover got down first." This policy cuased a snowball effect of
considerabl magnitude that echoed through federal and state
prisons: It's ok to snitch. This is one example of how the inmate
code is no longer sacred. Although one may still be rewarded for
silence and not "ratting" on his partners or on other inmates, in
general, "not ratting" is just another old school value.

Compare an old Humphrey Bogart film with any Gangster film of
today. Or, look at any detecitve or police show and you will find
a distinct difference: Inmates snitch rather than hold their tongues.

The inmate code has tkane a 180 degree turn. Today, whistle blowing   
is a public value. To be a whistle blower is to be a crime stopper,
a "good fellow." This has filtered into the norms and ethics of 
potential (or soon-to-be) inmates which transforms the old
inmate code of "don't rat" into one in which "stool pigeon" is
acceptable.

Return to JT's CLASS Homepage