wila n.— «Of the hundreds of letters that arrive or leave the Bexar County Jail, officers in the mailroom filter them in search of wilas, letters that contain orders regarding gang hits or other criminal acts.» —“Cracking prison...
wila n.— «Incarcerated Nuestra Familia members and associates communicated with each other and with those outside of penal institutions via inmates passing into or out of correctional facilities and prison visitors. Coded letters, “micro...
hit the deuces v. phr. in a penitentiary or prison, to summon help. Etymological Note: This appears to derive from the radio code “222” used by prison guards to call for assistance. The term may be specific to Federal prisons. (source:...
blue light bandit n.— «After nearly deadlocking Thursday, a Chatham County Superior Court jury returned Friday and delivered a guilty verdict against one of Savannah’s alleged “blue light bandits.” Jimmy Bradford, 20, was...
prison wife n.— «Fraudsters don’t do well in prison…They are the lowest of the low. They are considered snitches; they are dishonest; they can’t be trusted. That’s why they end up in the prison wives’ club.» —“Meet the leader...
hooked adj.— «A small fraction of the convicts who leave Illinois’ prisons each year are “hooked,” as it goes in prison parlance. That is, they are hooked up to a home-monitoring device—those bands of rubber equipped with a...