NCJ Number
146322
Journal
Crime and Delinquency Volume: 40 Issue: 1 Dated: (January 1994) Pages: 105- 119
Date Published
1994
Length
15 pages
Annotation
This article describes some of the dominant features of the Polish prison subculture including key prison customs, social structure and the process of socialization, and the problem of self-wounding.
Abstract
Research data for this article was gathered while one of the authors served five months as a political prisoner in Polish jails. The article describes some of the most important aspects of the Polish prison subculture which is dominated by a system of behavior and rules known as grypsing. At the top of the prison social hierarchy are the grypsmen which includes the majority of prisoners. More lowly prisoners are considered either suckers or, the lowest, cwels (homosexuals or homosexual rape victims). The process of socializing inmates to prison life, norms of the grypsmen and the testing of first-time convicts to determine whether they will be accepted as grypsmen are described. The author offers some insight into the common practice of self-wounding. A brief discussion of the physical environment in Poland's prisons is included. Some comparisons are made with American prison subculture.