Prison slang

Last updated May 01, 2024

Prison slang is an argot used primarily by criminals and detainees in correctional institutions. It is a form of anti-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; in Charles 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]

Examples

Prison slang, like other types of slang and dialects, 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 English slang 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 the Anthropological 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]

Australia

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 film Once Were Warriors .

Israel

Term^[6]	Definition
Abu-antar	Show-off
Antenna	Police informer
Aron	Rifle
Awacs	Translates to "intelligence airplane," means "police informer"
Brara	Arabic slang for "inferior fruit," means "criminals"
Cachol meza'azea	Translates to "shocking blue," means "police car"
Caftor	Translates to "button," means "policeman" or "police guard"
Chanjar	Arabic term for the word, "knife"
Cochav	Translates to "star," means "fool"
Columbia	Prison full of drugs (in reference to the country, Colombia)
Cova'im	Translates to "hats," means "Swiss francs"
Dag shamen	Translates to "fat fish," means "a person/inmate who can be robbed easily"
Duvdevan	Translates to "cherry," means "opium"
Efronot parsiim	Translates to "Persian pencils," means "Persian cocaine"
Ekdah	Translates to "pistol," means "injector"
Exhauster	Translates to "muffler," means "homosexual"
Galgalim	Translates to "wheels," means "ball-shaped hashish"
Ganoov	Translates to "stolen," means "fool"
Glickstein	Heroin (in reference to Israeli tennis player, "the White sport")
Gushim	Translates to "blocks" or "lumps," means "ground grains of heroin"
Harman	Translates to "horny," means "wanting to use drugs"
Hayalim	Translates to "soldiers," means "inmates who obey the boss"
Indian	Arabs
Intifada	Arabic for "uprising," means to terrorize
Kipa aduma	Translates to "Little Red Riding Hood," means "ambush"
Klavim	Translates to "dogs," means "inmates who obey the boss"
Krav hatoolim	Translates to "cat fight," means "lots of noise without violence"
Kufsa	Translates to "box," means "brain"
Kussa	Arabic for "zucchini", means "to cut up"
Litfok	Translates to "hit" or "fuck," means "to inject (a drug)"
Lool	Translates to "chicken coop," means "prison cell"
Madroob	Arabic slang for "crazy," means "a violent prisoner"
Malon	Translates to "hotel," means "prison"
Melech hata	Translates to "king of the cell," means "prison leader"
Mizvada	Translates to "suitcase," means "an inmate who delivers drugs in his rectum"
Muzikai	Translates to "musician," means "unreliable"
Na'alayim	Translates to "shoes," means "submissive"
Naknik	Translates to "sausage," means "an inmate who does not follow or act by the inmate code"
Narkis	Translates to "narcissus," means "drug addict"
Nofel al halashim	Translates to "to fall on the ?," means "annoying"
Pa'amon	Translates to "bell," means "annoying" or "noisemaker"
Pagaz	Translates to "artillery shell," means "a cigar filled with tobacco and hashish"
Patsooa	Collaborator
Picasso	Face wound
Poel	Translates to "worker," means "drug dealer"
Puntcher	Translates to "flat tire," means "a stabbing"
Re'evim	Translates to "hungry ones," refers to dogs trained to discover hashish
Rich-rach	Translates to "zipper," means "cuts"
Sandwich	Homosexual intercourse
Shafan	Translates to "rabbit," means "coward"
Shagrir	Translates to "ambassador" or "emessary," means "homosexual"
Shalach lo zer	Translates to "sent him a bouquet," means "liquidated"
Sharshuchot	Arabic slang for "prostitute," means "police staff" or "prison staff"
Shiltonot	Translates to "authorities," means "police or prison staff"
Shofech shinaim	Translates to "spilling teeth," means "to hit" or "to wound"
Shokolad	Translates to "chocolate," means "hashish"
Shvilim	Translates to "paths," means "drugs arranged in rows"
Soos	Translates to "horse," means "stupid"
Tapet	Translates to "wallpaper," means "Homosexual
Tarnegolim	Translates to "roosters," means "drugs wrapped for insertion in rectum"
Telephone	A tool used to smoke hashish
Tistakel al haramzorim	Translates to "look at the traffic lights," means "we are being followed"
Tractor	A tool used to smoke hashish
Tsipor	Translates to "bird," means "prison guard" or "an officer who cooperates with inmates"
Tsolelan	Translates to "deep-sea diver," means "oral sex"
Wisach	Arabic slang for "contaminated," means "police staff" or "prison staff"
Wiseh	Arabic for "dirty," means "police informer"
Yatsa letayel	Translates to "went for a walk," means "kidnapped"
Zonda	Translates to "stomach tube," means "homosexual rape"

United Kingdom

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,^[7] possibly originating from a notorious prison ship named HMS Pompee, that was anchored in Portsmouth 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 series Porridge – 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

United States

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
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^[9]	Throwing feces or other bodily fluids at a prison staff member or other inmate
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 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 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	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
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
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
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)

Zimbabwe

Term^[10]	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)

Related Research Articles

American English, sometimes called United States English or U.S. English, is the set of varieties of the English language native to the United States. English is the most widely spoken language in the United States and in most circumstances is the de facto common language used in government, education and commerce. It is also the official language of most US states. Since the late 20th century, American English has become the most influential form of English worldwide.

British English is the set of varieties of the English language native to the island of Great Britain. More narrowly, it can refer specifically to the English language in England, or, more broadly, to the collective dialects of English throughout the British Isles taken as a single umbrella variety, for instance additionally incorporating Scottish English, Welsh English, and Ulster English. Tom McArthur in the Oxford Guide to World English acknowledges that British English shares "all the ambiguities and tensions [with] the word 'British' and as a result can be used and interpreted in two ways, more broadly or more narrowly, within a range of blurring and ambiguity".

A slang is a vocabulary of an informal register, common in verbal conversation but avoided in formal writing. It also sometimes refers to the language generally exclusive to the members of particular in-groups in order to establish group identity, exclude outsiders, or both. The word itself came about in the 18th century and has been defined in multiple ways since its conception.

Vietnamese is an Austroasiatic language spoken primarily in Vietnam where it is the national and official language. Vietnamese is spoken natively by around 85 million people, several times as many as the rest of the Austroasiatic family combined. It is the native language of the Vietnamese (Kinh) people, as well as a second or first language for other ethnic groups in Vietnam.

Jargon or technical language is the specialized terminology associated with a particular field or area of activity. Jargon is normally employed in a particular communicative context and may not be well understood outside that context. The context is usually a particular occupation, but any ingroup can have jargon. The key characteristic that distinguishes jargon from the rest of a language is its specialized vocabulary, which includes terms and definitions of words that are unique to the context, and terms used in a narrower and more exact sense than when used in colloquial language. This can lead outgroups to misunderstand communication attempts. Jargon is sometimes understood as a form of technical slang and then distinguished from the official terminology used in a particular field of activity.

Sociolinguistics is the descriptive study of the effect of any or all aspects of society, including cultural norms, expectations, and context, on language and the ways it is used. It can overlap with the sociology of language, which focuses on the effect of language on society. Sociolinguistics overlaps considerably with pragmatics and is closely related to linguistic anthropology.

Lunfardo is an argot originated and developed in the late 19th and early 20th centuries in the lower classes in the Río de la Plata region and from there spread to other urban areas nearby, such as the Greater Buenos Aires, Santa Fe and Rosario.

In sociolinguistics, a variety, also known as a lect or an isolect, is a specific form of a language or language cluster. This may include languages, dialects, registers, styles, or other forms of language, as well as a standard variety. The use of the word variety to refer to the different forms avoids the use of the term language, which many people associate only with the standard language, and the term dialect, which is often associated with non-standard language forms thought of as less prestigious or "proper" than the standard. Linguists speak of both standard and non-standard (vernacular) varieties as equally complex, valid, and full-fledged forms of language. Lect avoids the problem in ambiguous cases of deciding whether two varieties are distinct languages or dialects of a single language.

Anthropological linguistics is the subfield of linguistics and anthropology which deals with the place of language in its wider social and cultural context, and its role in making and maintaining cultural practices and societal structures. While many linguists believe that a true field of anthropological linguistics is nonexistent, preferring the term linguistic anthropology to cover this subfield, many others regard the two as interchangeable.

Hopi is a Uto-Aztecan language spoken by the Hopi people of northeastern Arizona, United States.

Sheng is primarily a Swahili and English-based cant, perhaps a mixed language or creole, originating among the urban youth of Nairobi, Kenya, and influenced by many of the languages spoken there. While primarily a language of urban youths, it has spread across social classes and geographically to neighbouring Tanzania and Uganda.

Bargoens is a form of Dutch slang. More specifically, it is a cant language that arose in the 17th century, and was used by criminals, tramps and travelling salesmen as a secret code, like Spain's Germanía or French Argot. It is speculated to originate from Rotwelsch.

A cant is the jargon or language of a group, often employed to exclude or mislead people outside the group. It may also be called a cryptolect, argot, pseudo-language, anti-language or secret language. Each term differs slightly in meaning; their uses are inconsistent. Richard Rorty defines cant by saying that "'Cant', in the sense in which Samuel Johnson exclaims, 'Clear your mind of cant,' means, in other words, something like that which 'people usually say without thinking, the standard thing to say, what one normally says'." In Heideggerian terms it is what "das Man" says.

In sociolinguistics, a sociolect is a form of language or a set of lexical items used by a socioeconomic class, profession, age group, or other social group.

Language contact occurs when speakers of two or more languages or varieties interact with and influence each other. The study of language contact is called contact linguistics. Language contact can occur at language borders, between adstratum languages, or as the result of migration, with an intrusive language acting as either a superstratum or a substratum.

Grypsera is a distinct nonstandard dialect or prison slang of the Polish language, used traditionally by recidivist prison inmates.

In sociolinguistics, a register is a variety of language used for a particular purpose or particular communicative situation. For example, when speaking officially or in a public setting, an English speaker may be more likely to follow prescriptive norms for formal usage than in a casual setting, for example, by pronouncing words ending in -ing with a velar nasal instead of an alveolar nasal, choosing words that are considered more "formal", and refraining from using words considered nonstandard, such as ain't and y'all.

Australian Aboriginal English is a cover term used for the complex, rule-governed varieties of English used by a large section of the Indigenous Australian population as a result of colonisation. It is made up of a number of varieties which developed differently in different parts of Australia, and grammar and pronunciation differs from that of standard Australian English, along a continuum. Some of its words have also been adopted into standard or colloquial Australian English.

Tsotsitaal is a South African vernacular dialect derived from a variety of mixed languages mainly spoken in the townships of Gauteng province, but also in other agglomerations all over South Africa. Tsotsi is a Sesotho, Pedi or Tswana slang word for a "thug" or "robber" or "criminal", possibly from the verb "ho lotsa" "to sharpen", whose meaning has been modified in modern times to include "to con"; or from the tsetse fly, as the language was first known as Flytaal, although flaai also means "cool" or "street smart". The word taal in Afrikaans means "language".

The Nahuatl language in the United States is spoken primarily by Mexican immigrants from indigenous communities and Chicanos who study and speak Nahuatl as L2. Despite the fact that there is no official census of the language in the North American country, it is estimated that there are around 140,800 Nahuatl speakers. During the last decades, the United States has carried out many educational initiatives aimed at teaching Nahuatl as a language of cultural heritage.

References

1 2 Mayr, A. 2012. Prison Language. The Encyclopedia of Applied Linguistics.
1 2 3 Newman, John G.; Dossena, Marina; Łodej, Sylwester (2015-12-31). Token: A Journal of English Linguistics (Volume 4). Jan Kochanowski University of Kielce.
1 2 3 Little, Bert (Summer 1982). "Prison Lingo: A Style of American English Slang". Anthropological Linguistics. 24 (2): 206–244. JSTOR 30027838.
↑ Dziedzic-Rawska, Alicja (2016-07-27). "Linguistic creativity in American prison settings". Lublin Studies in Modern Languages and Literature. 40 (1): 81. doi: 10.17951/lsmll.2016.40.1.81 . ISSN 0137-4699.
↑ Hildebrand, Joe (April 28, 2017). "Your complete guide to prison slang". News.com.au . Archived from the original on March 11, 2019. Retrieved March 11, 2019.
↑ Einat, Tomer; Einat, Haim (September 2000). "Inmate Argot as an Expression of Prison Subculture: Israeli Case". The Prison Journal. 80 (3): 309–325. doi:10.1177/0032885500080003005. S2CID 14450588.
↑ "Why is Portsmouth called Pompey?". The Guardian . Archived from the original on March 11, 2019. Retrieved June 17, 2018.
↑ Devlin, Angela (1996). Prison Patter: A Dictionary of Prison Words and Slang. Waterside Press. ISBN 9781872870410.
↑ Sharon Shaley (2009). Supermax: Controlling Risk Through Solitary Confinement. Willan Publishing. p. 73. ISBN 978-1134026678.
↑ Sabao, Collen; Gohodzi, Isheanesu; Phiri, Fiona Mtulisi (2019). "Zimbabwean prison argot". JULACE: Journal of the University of Namibia Language Centre. 4 (1): 29–48. doi: 10.32642/julace.v4i1.1423 . ISSN 2026-8297.

External links

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.

[:1-1] 1 2 Mayr, A. 2012. Prison Language. The Encyclopedia of Applied Linguistics.

[:02-2] 1 2 3 Newman, John G.; Dossena, Marina; Łodej, Sylwester (2015-12-31). Token: A Journal of English Linguistics (Volume 4). Jan Kochanowski University of Kielce.

[:0-3] 1 2 3 Little, Bert (Summer 1982). "Prison Lingo: A Style of American English Slang". Anthropological Linguistics. 24 (2): 206–244. JSTOR 30027838.

[4] Dziedzic-Rawska, Alicja (2016-07-27). "Linguistic creativity in American prison settings". Lublin Studies in Modern Languages and Literature. 40 (1): 81. doi: 10.17951/lsmll.2016.40.1.81 . ISSN 0137-4699.

[5] Hildebrand, Joe (April 28, 2017). "Your complete guide to prison slang". News.com.au . Archived from the original on March 11, 2019. Retrieved March 11, 2019.

[6] Einat, Tomer; Einat, Haim (September 2000). "Inmate Argot as an Expression of Prison Subculture: Israeli Case". The Prison Journal. 80 (3): 309–325. doi:10.1177/0032885500080003005. S2CID 14450588.

[7] "Why is Portsmouth called Pompey?". The Guardian . Archived from the original on March 11, 2019. Retrieved June 17, 2018.

[8] Devlin, Angela (1996). Prison Patter: A Dictionary of Prison Words and Slang. Waterside Press. ISBN 9781872870410.

[9] Sharon Shaley (2009). Supermax: Controlling Risk Through Solitary Confinement. Willan Publishing. p. 73. ISBN 978-1134026678.

[10] Sabao, Collen; Gohodzi, Isheanesu; Phiri, Fiona Mtulisi (2019). "Zimbabwean prison argot". JULACE: Journal of the University of Namibia Language Centre. 4 (1): 29–48. doi: 10.32642/julace.v4i1.1423 . ISSN 2026-8297.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

[8]

[9]

[10]