# Inmate Code

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{{Short description|Prison code}}
{{one source|date=January 2019}}
The '''Inmate Code''' (sometimes referred to as "Convict Code") refers to the rules and values that have developed among prisoners inside prisons' social systems.<ref name="Clear">{{cite book |author=Clear, Todd R., Cole, George F., Resig, Michael D.|year=2006 |title=American Corrections |edition=7|publisher=Thompson}}</ref> The inmate code helps define an inmate's image as a model prisoner. The code helps to emphasize unity of prisoners against [correctional workers](/source/Corrections_officer). 
 
This code highlights the reasons why "[rehabilitation](/source/Rehabilitation_(penology))" is often so difficult to achieve.

==The Code==
In New Jersey, [Gresham Sykes](/source/Gresham_Sykes) performed a study in prisons and refined the code as follows:<ref name="Clear"/>

# '''Don't Interfere With Inmate Interests.''' Never rat on an inmate, don't be nosy, don't have loose lips, and never put an inmate on the spot.
# '''Don't Fight With Other Inmates.''' Don't lose your head; do your own time.
# '''Don't Exploit Inmates'''. If you make a promise, keep it, don't steal from inmates, don't sell favors, and don't go back on bets.
# '''Maintain Yourself.''' Don't: weaken, whine, cop out. Be a man and be tough.
# '''Don't Trust Guards Or The Things They Stand For'''. Don't be a sucker, the officials are wrong and the prisoners are right.

==Notes==
<references/>
{{Authority control}}
Category:Imprisonment and detention
Category:Subcultures in the United States
Category:Codes of conduct59-13

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