Page 84 - Once a copper 10 03 2020

Grasses or Snitches

One group out on its own, considered lower than low, are informants, or
"snitches." Whilst not obligated to participate in another inmate's rule-
breaking or crime, an inmate must never tell staff what another inmate is up
to. Doing so often means assignment to administrative segregation, where
the snitch spends most of their time locked in their cell with few privileges or
diversions. Even if the inmate informed upon is released, transferred to
another prison, or dies, he likely has friends ‘on the inside’ who will waste no
time in reminding the snitch that they violated the inmate code of conduct.

The largest group of prisoners are run-of-the-mill inmates with no gang
allegiance. They do their best to stay out of gang politics and disputes.
Barring complications where one falls-foul of a gang member, all this group
wants in the main, is to quietly do their time. I learned that unspoken Prison
etiquette exists that must be observed, if surviving your sentence is your
objective. i.e. don't disrespect others, don't help the staff with investigations,
remain in your own area.

My Prison Sentence

Prison life involves people living in very close proximity to one another (in
some situations, the toilet seat might be only a few inches from your face
when you're lying in bed), so it’s natural to expect cultural and social tension.

And so, against this backcloth of a stinking hell-hole, a Victorian building with
little or no modernisation, crammed to overflowing cells meant for one
containing 2 sometimes 3 frustrated and angry inmates who to my mind were
deprived of adequate sanitary and washing facilities, my own prison
sentence began.
But I was fortunate, I wasn’t locked in a cramped cold cell 24/7 with others
whose toilet and hygiene habits left a lot to be desired. I could wander about
the landings, escape to complete administrative duties and most importantly,
go home at the end of my eight hours.

Prior to the prison dispute, Central lock-up housed controllable numbers of
prisoners in transit for short periods, a day or overnight at most. As such the
administrative and gaoler numbers assigned were adequate. The influx of
hundreds of remand prisoners held there for weeks and months, placed an
overwhelming burden on the West Midlands police, hence the divisional
volunteers being asked to step up and help.

Many of the inmates were incarcerated from the day I started to the day I
left. I wouldn’t say days passed quickly, but they became more manageable
when insults were replaced with semi-intelligent conversation. Indeed, there
were occasions when someone displayed an intellect that made me think of Page84