DannyBoyinExile

There isn’t a girl in high school, or a teenager with a cell phone, who gossips as much as the inmates in TDCJ do. The phenomenon is so widespread here, that we refer to it as “inmate.com”. Since prison is a competitive environment, with lots of insecurity, some people feel as if they are getting some sort of status or recognition for possessing some inside information – even if it’s completely false. The recipient of the fake news may even KNOW that it isn’t true, but he’ll feel compelled to repeat it to someone else, lest they look at him as being outside the loop because he DIDN’T know.
For example, we typically go on lockdown every six months (or thereabouts) while they search the unit for contraband. Not even FIVE months will go by before the rumors begin. ” My homeboy works in the kitchen, and they just got a big shipment of peanut butter and bread, because we’re going on lockdown Monday. “
“This is no inmate.com – I work in the law library, and I HEARD the Major tell my boss that we’ll be on lockdown next week.”
“My homeboy is a clerk in the mattress factory, and his boss told him they haven’t gotten a supply truck in because we’re going on lockdown soon.”
When we miraculously DON’T get locked down Monday (or the next week at all), I feel compelled to point it out to them. “Who is that idiot that said we were going on lockdown?”
Rather than accept their mistake, or admit to a little freestyling, they’ll usually come up with a counter-rumor on the spot. “It got postponed because they’re in the middle of a big order in the tag plant, and they can’t lock us down until they finish it.” Which is, of course, pure propaganda – but some people never learn. Besides, if they continue the rumors for enough Mondays, they’ll eventually be proved correct – and you’ll never be allowed to forget who you heard it from first.
People are more susceptible to believing and repeating rumors that they WANT to be true. (But that doesn’t MAKE them true.) I can’t remember how many times I’ve heard that “they are going back to the old law,” so we’ll go home earlier, or “they’re about to start paying us to work,” or even “all of our visits are gonna be contact visits now!” That sounds really good – but it’s only inmate.com. My favorite was the one where “all of our phone calls are about to be free. They already passed the bill!” That one would have saved me a lot of money – if only it were true.
I can’t remember how many female guards have been “walked off the unit”, or even died from Covid (!), only to walk down the hallway again the next week. I greet them as I usually do, rather than reacting as if I’ve seen a ghost, because I knew better all along.
I’ve learned to pay attention to what I hear, and file it away for future reference – but I won’t BELIEVE it, until it’s been proven. If something seems too good to be true (or if I heard it on inmate.com), it probably isn’t. So says DannyBoy.