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From: popehat
Date: 3/1/2003
Time: 5:08:19 AM
Remote Name: 203.113.39.13
Convict culture
"One black inmate after the next told me that the only whites they respected were the Nazis. Initially I was totally shocked seeing these guys with 'White' on one tricep and 'Pride' on the other sitting at tables playing cards with the blackest of the black inmates. But the truth is, in prison non-racists don't get respect from anybody. They're considered nerds or weaklings. It's considered a virtue to have esteem for your heritage in prison. I mean, you have so very little else in there, you focus on those sort of tribal identities.
"You know, rare is the true sociopath. People laugh about honor among thieves. But the convict code to me is an incredibly moral thing. Why are rats and snitches hated in prison? 'Cause every one of them is guilty of something. They're trying to get out of whatever they're charged with by pinning it on someone else. And to me, that's the ultimate act of immorality."
—Author Jim Goad, released last year after serving 2 1/2 years in an Oregon prison for punching a girlfriend, interviewed by John Strausbaugh in the June 26 issue of New York Press