State: What the lingo means

What the lingo means

By ADAM C. SMITH & JO BECKER

Let's face it: When you spend a lot of time together in close quarters, you start to talk the same way. So it is with inmates and officers in Florida's prisons. Here is a sampling of the language that inmates and guards use:

KICK TO SLEEP: Inmates frequently claim that officers threaten to beat them, or "kick them to sleep," if they don't behave properly.

RUN THE SUPER BOWL: An inmate term for "cell extractions," when officers don what appears to be riot gear -- resembling football linebackers -- and rush into a cell to subdue a prisoner.

ON STRIP: This describes a prisoner who is ordered to serve time wearing only boxer shorts because he has done something wrong. As in, "They kept me on strip for five days."

ATOMIC COCKTAIL: A mixture of feces, urine and assorted other unpleasant substances that inmates sometimes throw at officers.

RIDING THE BUNK: Inmates say this occurs when officers order them to remain on their beds and not set foot on the floor of their cell, sometimes for hours at a time. "Get on your rack" is another way to order an inmate to get on their bed, particularly inmates in confinement trying to talk to neighbors through air vents.

STRAIGHTENING CLOSET: An officers' term for a room -- a supply room in a case related by one officer -- where an inmate can be taken and assaulted, or "straightened out," without witnesses.

OFF THE CHAIN: An inmate term, not necessarily derisive, for officers acting slightly wacky or making wisecracks at inmates. As in, "Looks like the sergeant's off the chain today."

JEFFERS: An inmate term for snitches or brown-nosers. Jeffing is the verb. The origin of the term is unknown.

CUFF UP: The order officers give inmates about to be escorted from their cells. Inmates are required to offer up their wrists for handcuffs.

FISHING: A common practice among inmates trying to pass notes or other items between cells. Prisoners unravel tens of feet of thread from an underwear waist band, or anything else available, tie weight (often soap) to one end, and then fling it to another cell.

SHOOT A TORPEDO: An inmate term for when officers allegedly abuse them by proxy, assigning them a roommate who will beat them inside the locked cell.

SHOWING HIS BUTT: A term used by officers to describe an inmate who is mouthing off or complaining about his treatment. As in: "That inmate was showing his butt."

GOON SQUAD, HIT SQUAD OR GOOD OLE BOYS: Used to refer to a group of officers who use unnecessary force to control inmates and threats to keep other officers from talking. "Goon squad" can also refer to a "cell extraction team," a group of officers who follow department policy to remove unruly inmates from their cells.

CATCHDOG: A term guards use to describe officers who will beat up an inmate the brass wants subdued, without being given a direct order to do so and without filing paperwork. The term was previously used to describe inmates who, acting on orders from officers, beat up other inmates to keep them in line.