I just saw a video where a corrections officer was fired for challenging a prisoner to a fight. I don’t know how the guy got caught, but if the prisoner had snitched on the guard, would he be considered a snitch by the other cons?
I’ve never been a prisoner, but I’m guessing it depends on how useful the inmates thought the guard was, or whether the guard was liked or not.
If the guard were smuggling contraband in for the inmates, and an inmate snitched, then yes, I could see why the other inmates would be angry since the snitcher has now cut off a flow of goodies and demonstrated himself to be an ally of the authorities.
If the inmate snitched on a guard for challenging him to a fight, and the guard was a disliked guy, then yeah, the snitch may be a hero.
I suppose that would make sense.
Of course, he’s probably not going to too popular with the other guards, which may be worse than pissing off other prisoners.
Everything I know about prison life comes from Sylvester Stallone movies, The Shawshank Redemption, and the 5th series of Justified, so I claim no authority on the topic but in general it seems like a good place to keep your head down, your mouth shut, and a big poster of Raquel Welch on the wall of your end of row cell that happens to adjoin to the unprotected sewage line. Also, make friends with the guy with an ironic ethnic name and a sonorous voice who can get you contraband.
Stranger
I read a piece on corruption in British prisons once (spoiler: there’s a lot) and a key point it made was that prisoners are always looking to find some leverage over guards. In one example, a young guard got into the habit of bringing in chocolate brownies for staff, and eventually, from a kind and human impulse, started sharing them with one particularly well-behaved prisoner. You’re not supposed to give gifts to prisoners, but it’s just a piece of chocolate brownie, it establishes a connection, where’s the harm? After a few weeks, this prisoner showed the guard that he’d saved every brownie, clear evidence of a persistent breach of regulations and enough to get him fired. And so that keen, warm-hearted guard became a corrupt tool of organised crime.
So, the snitch here has perhaps made a tactical error. If you have something over a guard, perhaps the thing to do is not actually get them fired, but to let them know you could get them fired. In which case, fellow cons may be annoyed not at the morality of snitching, but at the passing up of an opportunity.
In general and IMHO a snitch is a betrayal against an alliance.
Prisoners and guards? That’s not an alliance. But prisoners who rely on contraband and guards who supply that contraband? That’s an alliance. And depending on the type of contraband and how vital it is to one’s livelihood, that alliance can run deep and if you snitch against that it can cost you your life. So it all depends. Is there an alliance?
Alliances can be discrete and firm, such as Marines in the same Marine Corps unit (say, a company or battery or regiment). Or, alliances can be fuzzy and soft and multi-layered, such as Marines working in the same section; or Marines who play on the same baseball team together even though they come from different units; or Marines who went to the same boot camp even though they were in different years and they never met there.
The point is that these fuzzy and soft layers often have differing strengths of bonds. A snitch against a lower, weaker layer such as you and I both went to San Diego for boot camp but in different years will not be as egregious as a snitch against Marines who fought side-by-side in violent combat together and who had each others’ backs and saved each other’s lives. You cross that and you are effed.
It all depends on if there’s an alliance or not, and how strong it is.
An inmate snitching on a guard, with that guard sub sequentially reprimanded, would have a definite effect on the other guards: they would suddenly become much more strict about carefully following all the prison rules – to the letter.
That seems likely to create a nitpicky strictness for the other inmates, which they would probably resent. And the other guards would have extra work in enforcing every single rule, which they would probably resent.
So the ‘snitch’ would have both other prisoners and the guards resenting him – not likely to have a good outcome.
I dunno about that… Gang members usually won’t snitch on members of rival gangs, even when the two gangs are actively fighting each other.
Gang members are allied with other gang members against cops. It’s a softer alliance than within your own gang obviously but it’s definitely an alliance.
I grew up in an area with gangs and was friends with some very low level affiliates. Out of curiosity, what is your experience in the area?
From what I learned about prison through reading and hearing first hand-examples, there’s really no hard and fast rules with prison.
The common expression “Child abusers/molesters are hated by all prisoners” isn’t a guarantee as you can read plenty of stories of child molesters who for one reason or another aren’t singled out in prison. It really does just depend on the environment and mood of the prison at the time.
Because of their alliance as gang members of rival gangs. Like @hajario said.
@Little_Nemo should know the answer.
From listening to the Ear Hustle podcast, I’d say one general rule of thumb is “mind your own business”. Sticking your nose into a situation that doesn’t concern you is rather frowned upon.
Close. But the situation in reality is more like you have a society where there are lots of rules - but nobody obeys the rules.
That’s how somebody gets to be a prisoner. They’re somebody who breaks the rules. Even rules they think should apply to other people. They just don’t think those same rules should apply to them personally.
So prisoners will all tell you that snitching is the worst thing ever and nobody should ever snitch on anybody. But the reality is every prisoner snitches all the time.
I think it’s also a matter of who the bigger enemy is. For gangs, the cops are a bigger enemy than other gangs; in prison, the bigger enemy - bigger than any individual corrections officer - is always the prison’s administration. By snitching on a guard, you’re helping the warden, which is something other prisoners might not like.
Just my WAG.
Yes. Also the enemy of my enemy is my friend.
I think it’s more like, the friend of my enemy is my enemy.
If you have the time and inclination, I would appreciate some anecdotes.
To be clear, I don’t have any personal experience in the matter. All I know is what I’ve picked up incidentally from news and fiction.
It makes sense. After all, these are criminals we’re talking about here. They may claim to have principles, but by definition they aren’t very principled people, and the fact that they’re in prison means that they’re not very good at assessing risks or judging costs versus benefits