"Ducking" is a
prison slang
Prison slang is an argot used primarily by criminals and detainees in correctional institutions. It is a form of anti-language.Mayr, A. 2012. Prison Language. The Encyclopedia of Applied Linguistics. Many of the terms deal with criminal behavior ...
term for a technique through which
prisoners modify the behavior of
correctional officers and other
prison
A prison, also known as a jail, gaol, penitentiary, detention center, correction center, correctional facility, or remand center, is a facility where Prisoner, people are Imprisonment, imprisoned under the authority of the State (polity), state ...
staff members using manipulation and coercion. The prison slang term for a prison staff member that has been manipulated is a "duck".
Ducking occurs when a prisoner becomes friendly with a prison staff member and then persuades the employee to break prison rules and laws. The prisoner then provokes the staff member (or members) into breaking an increasing number of prison guidelines until the staff member can be effectively
blackmailed by the prisoner. At such point, the "duck" in prison parlance is said to be "downed". Ducking is perceived to be a threat to hierarchal stability in prisons. For this reason, volunteers at
San Quentin State Prison
San Quentin Rehabilitation Center (SQ), formerly known as San Quentin State Prison, is a California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation state prison for men, located north of San Francisco in the unincorporated area, unincorporated place ...
are given an anonymously authored eight-page pamphlet describing ducking techniques entitled ''Downing a Duck (An Inmate's Version)'' during training in addition to the standard volunteer handbook.
It is thought that
Joyce Mitchell and
Gene Palmer, employees of the
Clinton Correctional Facility
Clinton Correctional Facility is a New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision maximum security state prison for men located in the Village of Dannemora, New York. The prison is sometimes colloquially referred to as Danne ...
in
Dannemora, New York, were perhaps ducked by
Richard Matt and
David Sweat in the
2015 Clinton Correctional Facility escape. The concept of ducking is also discussed in the 2019 film ''
Heartlock''.
References
Prison-related crime
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