The jig's up you've been caught you've been arrested for the crime you've been
doing you've been taken to court and sentenced put on the prison bus and
taken to a federal penitentiary it's there you'll spend the next few years of
your life but before you settle into your concrete
palace there are some rules you should know these aren't the normal rules one
may think of in prison in fact they're unwritten rules only inmates know but
you're gonna need them if you want to survive I'm Charlie and today we're
going to look at unwritten rules in prison Before we jump into it why not
subscribe and press the notification bell cloven going into prison is not
exactly a fashion show in fact everyone pretty much wears the same thing but
there are some subtle differences in prisoners clothing and it's something
that every seasoned inmate looks for instantly whenever they walk into any
room believe it or not one of the first things people look for in prison is what
are people wearing when you walk into the prison for the first time everyone's
gonna be sizing you up but if you want to know what kind of person they are you
need to look at their shoes if you see the prisoners wearing their prison
flip-flops then you know that nothing Bad's gonna happen
they're pretty relaxed and they're likely not going to jump you if you see
every prisoner wearing sneakers and boots you need to know something is
about to go down you may not even be involved in what's
going to happen but you need to be well aware of the situation and every season
inmates knows this according to former prison inmates you will feel the tension
if everyone's wearing boots and sneakers but if people have just got out of the
showers and they're wearing slippers and relaxing then everything should be fine
of course it's a prison though so you never know
no whistling we've all seen the films where people working in prison whistle
to pass the time but this is purely in fiction not in real life
whistling inside prisons and even jails is looked down on
this is because whistling is associated with birds and birds are free birds
inmates are not so don't do it it could just be enough to set someone off and
really annoy them whistling is said to be one of the biggest faux pars in
American and Canadian prisons TV rooms in most prisons there will be some rooms
with televisions but there is a very strict etiquette to these TV rooms large
American prisons may have up to four TV rooms and these are usually divided by
the people who use them often if there's a white TV room and a black TV room
there's then usually a Spanish TV room and a sports TV room now any prisoner
can go to any one of these rooms but if they wouldn't because it's generally a
faux pas that's because people have their set spaces and you wouldn't want
to disrespect anyone by taking their space
this means that white prisoners usually stay in the white TV room and black
prisoners do the same thing in their room spanish-speaking prisoners usually
stay in these spanish-speaking TV room and the sports TV room is usually more
communal meaning that pretty much anyone can use it you may think that prisons
would not want the prisoners to divide each other up like this
but they actually encourage it that's because they don't want any altercations
between rival prisoners and gangs they would rather have all groups stick to
themselves and cause as little trouble as possible
this may sound very odd to a non convict but in prison there are totally
different rules prison politics you may think that behind but you're free of all
politics but that's not true in fact prisons have their own politics prison
politics is also known as mob politics this is basically knowing who the head
honchos and old-timers are and you need to know the stuff because you don't want
to get on the wrong side of an old timer each group in prison will have the guy
who calls the shots there will often be a white and black shot caller and
sometimes also a Hispanic and Native American shot caller for those groups
too if you have a beef with another prisoner you may need to consult these
shot callers first after talking to the shot caller they may say that it's fine
for you to have an altercation with this other prisoner but they may also say
that that would not be good because of prison politics they may tell you not to
get revenge on someone or to start an altercation with another prisoner that's
because that prisoner may be protected by another shot caller within the prison
if you break the rules of the shot callers then it's gonna be you who's
getting jumped so you must brush up on prison politics no staring
it may seem simple but knowing where to put your eyes is a crucial skill behind
bars one of the worst things you can do is stare at other inmates this could be
interpreted as spying and they may think you're a snitch also some people like to
get into altercations with other inmates simply for looking at them wrong but in
prison there's a big difference between staring and looking you don't want to
not be looking at any prisoner because otherwise you may come across as very
weak what you really need to do is try and lurk but not stare don't be afraid
to look at people for a split second but don't make too much eye contact it's
really an art form that you'll need to brush up on when you're in prison but if
the general prison rule is that staring involves eye contact for longer than
three seconds so as long as you're not doing that then you should be fine and
won't get into any altercations bathroom rules when you go to prison one of the
main things you lose is your privacy and one of the hardest readjustments is not
having any privacy in the bathroom bathroom rules are one of the most
sensitive things for any prison inmate one ex prisoner named Larry Lawton once
smashed another prisoners face into a concrete wall for not cleaning the
bathroom properly that's because his cellmate got pee on the seat and they
also left toothpaste on the sink many times everyone has to shave and get hot
water from that sink and everyone has to use that same toilet so you'd better
keep it clean there are also rules for the communal showers inside prisons
showers are one place that guards aren't constantly watching prisoners that's why
sometimes altercations and jumping's take place inside the showers that's why
a lot of the time prison inmates will have their friend keeping watch while
they take a shower you'll need to arrange this before you go into the
shower this allows your friend to stand outside the showers and keep watch for
you then if anyone comes to start trouble with you they can give you a
warning in advance also much like the TV rooms if the showers are also divided by
black and white you'll need to make sure you're not using the wrong person shower
or you could get jumped some people will also make prison wine in the showers
prisoners do this by fermenting fruits and sugars in the hot water of the
shower it sounds nasty but prison wine is one of the few luxuries prisoners get
behind bars no freebies when you're locked up you
don't have much that's why a free cigarette soap food or a toothbrush from
another inmate may seem like a nice gesture but one unwritten rule of prison
is never accept anything for free from another inmate this simple gesture will
put you into debt with that other inmate and they'll want you to do favors for
them in the future these are favors which could put you in
danger or even get you more time added to your sentence
so never accept any free commissary items from an inmate the most common
free items are cigarettes soaps foods and toothbrushes chow hall seating the
chow hall is where inmates go to eat but much like in high school there's a very
very setting out seating plan but instead of the jocks and nerds being on
different tables it's much more serious than that you need to know which side of
the chow hall to sit at this may be divided by gangs or perhaps by black and
white and Hispanic you'll also need to know exactly what section to sit in one
former inmate named Larry Lawton said he saw a man get his life taken from him
simply for sitting in the wrong place that's right just sitting in the wrong
seat in the chow hall can get your life taken from you for example you could sit
in the seat where these shot-caller sits every day this would be a massive
disrespect and faux pas even if you don't know it so make sure you get the
lowdown from your fellow inmates about where to sit and when not to sit snitch
is one of the biggest issues inmates face is snitches snitches are prison
inmates who inform on fellow inmates to the prison guards this is usually in
exchange for commissary items or money or sometimes even a reduced sentence but
the phrase snitches get stitches is very much true in prison snitching is very
dangerous and you could lose your life for doing it
snitches can often be found near the guards talking to them
there are also snitches called Note slippers these are people who will slip
small notes under the guards doors this note could say something like this
prisoner has a shank inside their cell you need to be careful who you can fight
in because you could be talking to a snare
gambling prison can get very boring that's why some inmates will gamble
money playing poker or dominoes but one thing you need to remember is never
gamble or bet money that you don't have or you're not capable of paying back the
risk is super high and you could lose your life for a few dollars pick your
friends before you've a friend anyone behind bars make sure you know who they
are most presents are segregated so keep that in mind
also make sure the person you're hanging out with is not a snitch or you could
also be labeled a snitch wrongly also make sure they haven't committed a crime
against a child for example or something else which makes them disliked by the
rest of the prison so those are the unwritten rules of prison to help you
survive behind bars now it's time to make your voice heard
comment below which was the most surprising prison rule if you want some
more amazing videos then check out my second channel but as always thank you
for watching there are some more videos on screen right now leave a like if you
enjoyed and if you haven't really what are you waiting for subscribe to Top
10s