Why you can't drop soap in the army. Why in prison you can't pick up anything from the floor. For example, fallen soap and other items. Packed rations remainder
Many people have probably heard that soap on the floor of a prison shower is not good. As they say, you can’t swear off scrip and prison, so understanding the history and meaning of this “custom” will not be superfluous, both for the common man and for those already sentenced to prison.
"First Walkers"
First of all, newcomers going to places not so remote should come to terms with the fact that all their knowledge of prison customs is most likely based on stereotypes and jokes circulating in a society that is extremely superficially informed.
For example, there is an opinion that all conflicts in prison are resolved from a position of strength, or that in the absence of women, non-traditional sexual relations reign there. However, everything is not quite like that.
Of course, we still have to fight and fight against violence in prison, but the strong and the weak, the newcomer and the authoritative are defeated here not by force, but rather by cunning. New arrivals are asked about life, about the article, and given nicknames; for those who have been in prison longer, they arrange “sneaks” to determine how suggestible and submissive the prisoner is.
Mess on the floor
So why shouldn't you drop soap in prison? In fact, you can drop, and not only soap, but anything at all. You can also lift them, but only your things that the prisoner dropped himself.
But you shouldn’t pick up other people’s things that have fallen on the floor. Firstly, among the unspoken rules of the prison code there is the rule “whoever drops it, picks it up.”
Secondly, someone else’s thing on the floor may be one of those checks, the result of which will affect the life of the prisoner for the rest of his sentence - picking up someone else’s thing from the floor, as it were, shows that he is ready to obey, thus losing honor and dignity in the eyes of other prisoners and dooming himself to a rather deplorable existence within prison walls.
The best way out of the situation is to walk past the fallen item or even walk on it and wipe your feet (if it is a cloth).
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- Newcomers should study prison customs in advance.
- It’s better to come up with a nickname for yourself in advance, even if you never had one.
- You must always be on your guard, be attentive and remember your dignity.
- There is no need to succumb to provocations.
- Under no circumstances should you pick up anything that is not yours from the floor.
And finally, the most important advice to the reader is that it is better not to commit such actions at all, for which you will have to answer not only in court before the law and society, but also in prison before the prisoners.
Russian prison is government agency, where the main ruling factor is the rules internal regulations and UK. But for every prisoner, the prison or prisoner’s unspoken code, which the prisoners dubbed the “concept,” is much more important. Every prisoner lives by this slang definition, and to free citizens its rules seem simply terrifying.
How can an ordinary, respectable resident of the country understand why you can’t drop soap in prison? Those who have never encountered prison rules cannot comprehend this.
Checks
Newly arrived prisoners are subject to special checks from their cellmates. The main one is the “mean”. Next to a newcomer, an experienced prisoner may drop something, for example, a towel or clothes. If a newcomer is familiar with prison customs, he will not pick up a fallen object. It is advisable to walk around the thing, step over it, or even step on it and trample on it. This action is considered normal, no matter how stupid it may sound.
Therefore, it is not difficult to understand why you should not drop soap in prison. If the prisoner raises it, he will thereby indicate his subordination. Every self-respecting prisoner is sure that if it is not his thing that has fallen, then there is no need to touch it.
In addition, if a prisoner’s soap falls, which he needs at the moment, then it must be picked up in a special way, and not in the way that is customary outside the prison. Another answer to the question why you can’t drop soap in prison.
Of course, prison violence is difficult to eradicate immediately, but in places of deprivation of liberty any prisoner, new or experienced, can be overcome not physically, but morally, that is, with cunning. "Recruits" not only undergo checks, but also receive nicknames. Nasty tricks were invented by prisoners to determine the degree of suggestibility of newcomers.
Prison sign with soap
So why can't you drop soap in prison? It is strictly forbidden to lift this one from the floor. Otherwise, actions may be regarded as sexually motivated, and mentally unbalanced persons and people with non-traditional orientation are capable of this. Prisoners walk around the fallen hygiene item or do not pay any attention to it.
Some prisoners may even ostentatiously step on a dropped item of clothing or hygiene item. But for ordinary citizens, such behavior is considered abnormal.
But even in this case, the prison has its own secrets: prisoners take with them another bar of soap before going to the shower. But if there is no supply, and the only block has fallen, then you can raise it so that no one can find fault. It is advisable to simply squat down and pick up the soap, but this should only be done facing the other prisoners. So it's easy to understand why you shouldn't drop soap in prison.
Lawlessness is not to the liking of anyone - including prisoners. A few years ago, if a person picked up soap from the floor in prison, he could be raped, beaten and laughed at. But if a prisoner has plenty of “shoals” even without soap, reprisals come much earlier.
And finally
- A newcomer should know at least some prison customs and rules.
- If the verdict is announced, it is better to come up with a nickname for yourself, even if it never existed.
- Dignity - important quality in a person, so you should never lose it.
- Provocations will not lead to any good, so you need to be very vigilant.
- It is strictly forbidden to pick up anything from the floor, especially someone else’s. This is why you can't pick up soap in prison.
And the most important advice to all readers is that there is no need to commit such actions in life for which you will have to answer to the judge first and to your cellmates later.
A Russian prison is not the most rosy place, where strict local rules and provisions of the criminal code apply.
But no less important than ordinary laws is the local prison code, which prisoners call “concepts.” During his stay in places of deprivation of liberty, this code becomes the main set of life principles for the prisoner.
Ignorance of the rules does not exempt you from responsibility, and failure to comply with them is fraught with punishment from other prisoners.
You will learn further about what happens if you drop soap in prison, how to pick it up and when it is better not to do this.
The life of prisoners is very different from the life of ordinary people. In addition, there are special rules in the zone that seem inadequate and wild to the average person, but in prison it is better to follow them.
It is interesting that the “concepts” practically do not change over time - whether in 1955 or 2019, prisoners live by almost the same principles.
Before we figure out why you can’t pick up soap from the floor in prison, let’s look at the principles of picking up fallen things in general.
Any actions must be performed very carefully, since they may have a certain hidden meaning, which will be read by cellmates and entail certain consequences.
Experienced prisoners like to play tricks on newcomers. Such checks consist of the prisoner dropping an item next to his cellmate - for example, a towel or cup.
You can’t lift an object if it’s under your feet and in the way, just step over it and move on, you might even step on it and trample. If the prisoner picks up the item, he shows and acknowledges his submission, the consequences of which are obvious.
A self-respecting prisoner believes that if someone else’s thing falls, you can’t touch it and there’s no need to touch it - it sounds strange, but nonetheless.
Now let's see what it means to drop soap in prison, how to pick it up correctly, and whether it's worth doing. The personal hygiene item in the zone has a special, almost sacred meaning.
You can’t pick up your own or someone else’s soap. It is better to have a spare bar with you in the shower.
What to do if soap falls in prison, but there is no other piece? You can try to raise it correctly - so that others do not find fault.
You need to squat (under no circumstances lean your head down) so that the prisoners in the room are in front and not behind.
If possible, it is advisable not to do this either, since the reaction of cellmates is difficult to predict - they were repeatedly beaten, raped, and ridiculed for raising soap.
Another thing is that there may be no less other jambs, and each has its own measures of responsibility.
Prisoners in places of deprivation of liberty are forced to follow special rules and regulations; a person’s position in the prison hierarchy is determined based on behavior.
Experienced prisoners can play tricks on newcomers, including dropping something next to them and seeing what the person does (you can’t pick up an object from the floor).
If the soap falls in the shower, it is better to take a spare bar - picking it up means equating yourself with homosexuals and receiving the corresponding consequences in the future.
It is relatively safe to pick up a bar of soap from the floor by squatting down and facing the other prisoners.
Why in prison you can't pick up anything from the floor. For example, fallen soap and other items
4 (80%) 2 votesWhy in prison you can't pick up anything from the floor. For example, fallen soap and other items
Experienced inmates know for certain one of the iron rules of prison concepts - not to pick up anything from the floor in the cell (as well as in any other room of the MLS). The most strict followers of this convention will not bend over to pick up a cap (hat) that has fallen to the ground: from that moment on, the fallen thing is once and for all considered “unclean”, “grinded”.
Why exactly do you get “stirred”?
The etymology of the word “zashkvar” and its derivatives is not entirely clear. According to the “Dictionary of the slang of criminal criminals “Blatnaya muzyka” (compiled by S. M. Potapov, 1927), “shkvarzha” is a mistress. If we add to this the meaning of the word “shkvarki” (heavily overcooked pieces of lard or meat) and take into account that the dialectic “shkvaritsya” is perceived in a certain environment precisely as a process of “lowering”, being reduced to the status of a passive homosexual, then the “culinary-sexual” version of the origin This lexical unit-jargon looks quite acceptable: with his behavior, unacceptable from the point of view of prison concepts, the prisoner excessively “overcooks” his own status.
A more understandable synonym for the jargon “shkvarenny” in the conceptual prison dialect is “mined,” that is, by definition, deadly, and therefore untouchable.
Bent over means bending over
In the chapter “Podlyanka” of the book “Prison Encyclopedia” its author Alexander Kuchinsky, who has personal experience stay in the MLS, writes that newcomers in prison are often tested by being forced to pick up some thing thrown (“dropped”) on the floor. This could be clothes, a towel or soap. Examples about soap have generally become classics in explaining the rules of behavior when committing such “sneaks.” Stories about raising soap in bathhouses (showers) always had a sexual connotation, and the most prudent prisoners often took two pieces with them for washing, just in case.
Kuchinsky argues that a prisoner should not only not pick up an abandoned item, no matter what it is (soap included), but it is also advisable to step on it, trample on it, and wipe his feet on a towel (clothing). If a person bent down to pick up an object, then, according to prison concepts, he thus “bowed under the changing world”, showed that he had come to terms with someone else’s will, and was ready for submission. The correct behavior in this case is to adhere to the principle “I didn’t throw, it’s not for me to pick up.”
The authors of the publication “How to Survive in a Soviet Prison” (1992), Valery Abramkin and Yuri Chizhov, while preparing the book, in the late 80s - early 90s, interviewed dozens of people who had experience of imprisonment, and based on these interviews they compiled their research. In particular, one of the interviewees told them how, according to the concepts, it was necessary to deal with fallen objects in general and reinforced security colonies, where he was serving prison terms.
A prisoner recalled that convicts there generally lived according to the principle “what falls is lost” - for example, if something fell to the ground, the prisoners were no longer supposed to touch it. The parade ground was considered a special zone of such “inviolability”, as by definition a “grimmed” territory. And the winter hat that had fallen off the head was not picked up - the “correct” prisoner was obliged to forget about this “defiled” headdress.
Everywhere in the MLS, a person who picked up a cigarette (cigarette butt) lying on the floor in the toilet (or near any latrine) was considered “stirred” - this was a potential candidate for inclusion in the caste of the “offended” (“roosters”).
Is it even possible to pick up anything from the floor in prison?
There is no consensus here. One of the “radical” prisoners, who religiously observe prison concepts, claims that if something falls, then it is definitely “strewn.” And, for example, a certain Fyodor Krestovy, author of a collection of tips and recommendations “How to survive in the zone. Advice from an experienced prisoner” believes that “you need to look at the circumstances.”
For example, a pack of cigarettes that has fallen on a clean floor, far from a bucket, can be picked up, turning the incident into a joke - they say, “it fell on a newspaper.” Krestovy also mentions the example of the cigarette picked up near the toilet - here, in his opinion, everything is clear: this is, in any case, a serious mess.
Liberal-minded prisoners also have a way to “legally” pick up soap in the bathhouse - you don’t have to bend over, but squat down. But be sure to turn your face to the others.
