Articles

February 14, 2012 IF YOU start feeling good about America, run don't walk to Adam Gopnik's damning New Yorker feature on the land of the free's penchant for imprisonment: For a great many poor people in America, particularly poor black men, prison is a destination that braids through an ordinar...

by Ed Grabianowski Prisons are most commonly used to jail criminals, but they have also been used to lock away political dissidents, the mentally ill, prisoners of war and even people who couldn't pay their debts. As an abstract term, prison is quite simple: it's a place where your freedo...

'Prison Lingo: The Language of the Prison Community' is the result of a collaboration between the English Project and HMP Winchester in October 2010. That year the theme of the English Language Festival was the Language of Place and Community, and prisoners were invited to listen to a talk about ...

An Informal Guide Jennifer Waite, Yahoo! Contributor  March 12, 2009 If you've ever sat through an episode of Dateline where suspects are being interrogated, you have undoubtedly noticed some who are obviously not strangers to the system just judging by the way they speak. Perhaps when you w...

Banged up - locked in a cell. Baron - prisoner who controls illicit articles through bullying and other exploitative practices of the prisoners. Beef - Criminal charges, i.e. "I caught a burglary beef this time around." Is also used to mean problem, e.g. "I have a ...

From "Buck Rogers time" (a sentence with a far-future parole date) to "the monster" (HIV) —By Jen Quraishi  -  July/August 2008 Issue SOME PRISON SLANG: bo-bos: prison-issued tennis shoes bone yard: trailers used for conjugal visits brake fluid: psychiatric meds such as...

Abel Assessment for Sexual Interest (Abel Screen): An assessment instrument that gives an objective measurement of deviant sexual interests. Able-bodied offender: An individual in the custody of the DOC who is cleared medically and is physically able to participate in a work program unless other...

By Tom Brown  Reuters – Tue, July 3, 2012 MIAMI  - Quartavious Davis is still shocked by what happened to him in federal court two months ago. "My first offense, and they gave me all this time," said Davis, a pudgy African American with dreadlocks who spoke with Reuters at the Federa...

Jonathan Simon, professor of law  8/17/12 It is hard to say whether they are the worst crimes. They are the crimes that horrify the most. A baby-sitter, for no apparent reason, strangles the 15 month old child she has been hired to protect. A professional thief shoots a young police officer in h...