10 Unwritten Rules in Prison | 82 |

I had this cellmate who's an axe-

he killed a man with an axe handle
on an airforce base.

Good dude. I know, you're saying
"what do you mean, 'good dude?'"

Good dude. I trusted him.

Hi, I'm Larry Lawton,
America's biggest jewel thief.

Join me as I walk you
through my past robberies,

how I planned them, executed them

and ultimately got caught.

I'm gonna show you how
we did things in prison.

Like: making a tattoo gun, making wine,

making white lightening. It's going to
very educational.

These are the untold stories.

Hey everybody, Larry Lawton here
for another great addition of

Untold Stories and this is going
to be a good one.

This is called the 10 Unwritten
Rules You Need to Know About Prison

Before I get started again,
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We're really trying to build this
thing for a lot of good reasons

and the main reason is to build
up a prison reform group

that's going to be making changes
in a system we all know is broke

So let me get into this next thing
I wanted to tell you guys about.

It's called the 10 Unwritten Rules,
and it's about prison.

Because if you didn't know these,
one: you could lose your life,

get stabbed, have a really rough time

I get called all the time about
people who made mistakes

they will be going to prison and it all,
of course, depends on what level prison

you're going to.
Let me get right into the Unwritten Rules.

Cause they're important things you would
need to know if you went to prison.

The first thing you do: obviously when you
go into prison,

don't believe anybody there is your buddy.

But the first unwritten rule is to look at
what people are wearing on their feet.

You're saying to me, what are you
talking about Larry?

Here's exactly what I'm talking about.

When I was transferred, and
I was transferred a lot

because I was a, I guess
you would just call me

a troubled inmate, a convict who
didn't care,

would fight the system, they gave
me diesel therapy

they did a lot of things
to make my life rough in prison.

Well, they transfer you. Obviously,
I ended up having a very good reputation

so I was a convict and people knew me
and you'd go from one place to another.

You're in what they call "Con Air,"
the air transport

which I'll be doing a video on.

But anyway, as far as
the 10 Unwritten Rules,

that first rule is: What are
people wearing?

and here is why it is important:

If I go into a prison
and I come on the yard

I got my bed roll,
I'm getting assigned

to one of the units,
you walk into the unit

you see people milling around
all the time

They could be up on
the tiers looking down at you,

it's kind of intimidating if you don't
understand what's going on.

They're sizing you up, seeing who you are,
seeing what kind of guy-

how you carry yourself.
Are you meek, are you aggresive,

are you tough, the way
you walk, the way you look at people.

the way you don't stare them down,
but you don't look away.

It's an art to all of that.

One of the first things I do,
is look at what they're wearing.

Here's why. If I see people wearing,
flip flops...

I'm looking, it's not ready
to jump off.

If you see people wearing
boots, their prison-issued boots

If you see people wearing their boots,
"Why are they all wearing their boots?"

If you see people in sneakers and boots
and stuff like that,

you're saying to yourself, "what's
going on here?"

Usually when people are wearing
stuff like that,

especially, if you're in the unit
and you come in later in the night

or sometimes you come in
after chow

they'll release you from R&D,
depending on what time they release you

when you get to that unit, if you see
people with sneakers milling around

You can feel it. You can feel tension,
something might jump off.

You're not involved, I'm not
saying to get involved,

and don't get involved, but
something might jump off

so you'd better be on your Ps
and Qs.

You'd better be ready, at all times.

Step back, get outta the way
watch two guys go at it,

you don't try to break stuff up,
you just back away

It's not your beef,
you just are a convict,

no lookin' at him.
But you'd better know that.

Now if I see people just
joking around,

and they're walking around
in flip flops and stuff,

they just got out of their shower,
and it's like "old home" week here,

this place is not going to
scare me too much. It's ok.

It's a prison, things can happen.
But ok, it's not a tension-filled place.

You'll know tension right away
in a prison.

Absolutely right away you'll know it.
And boy, I get that feeling

to this day no matter what I do.
I can feel tension, all the time.

It's just who I am.

The second thing you wanna know
in the Unwritten Rules:

What's the shower situation?

Listen, I like to be clean.
I don't ever want to be a dirty person.

You don't want to be a dirty person
in prison.

The worst thing you can do is
be a dude who smells,

doesn't clean up after himself,
and be with a celly.

I once took a dude's face and
grabbed him by the back of his hair

and smashed his face into a concrete wall.

Blood started pouring all over the place,
he just falls down

I did that because after two times.
He used to shave, we all shaved-

They have the sink and the toilet together.

Here's a picture of it, right here.

And in that, you'd better
clean up after yourself.

If you brush your teeth, you don't
leave toothpaste in the bottom of that.

If you shave, you don't leave your
shavings, you know, the hairs, in there!

Whatever it is, you clean that out.
Just like you take your toilet

you know, you have a single unit. As you
can see in the picture, its the

single units, when you go there,
you use that toilet, you clean that.

You take a piss, you take toilet paper and
you clean that toilet, that "seat cover."

There's no seat cover, you're sitting on
stainless steel.

But you wanna be seeing
piss stuff on that?

If I got a celly and he walks in,
and you know,

say they assign someone usually you don't
let that happen depending on the place

they get a guy and he comes in your cell
and he says "hi, how you doing?"

I'll know within 5 minutes what kind
of dude this dude is.

Is he a convict, is he a newbie? Is he
scared so he doesn't know how to act?

The way he handles himself
right around that toilet area,

I'm going to know what kind
of guy he is.

And I wanna know what kind of guy he is.
I wanna know what I'm dealing with.

The guy that I smashed,
I didn't just smash him.

I told him a few times, I said,
"Listen man, clean up man.

We eat, we get water out of that sink. We
fill up our bowls, we put water in there

You might get that water for your rice and
then you're going to put your rice

in the microwave. Or you're going to make
hot water.

You're going to make the water out of
that, you go boil it in the microwave

for coffee
in the morning.

Listen, you clean up after yourself.
That's important.

But you wanna know, the second rule,
is the shower situation,

What's it like? Where do they go?
Who showers who?

So, when you're going in that unit,
you wanna know the shower situation.

What I mean by that is, the have six
showers on each side of the unit

and the top left was where the white
dudes used to go.

That was kind of their shower.

Another shower is where the Hispanics go.
Another shower is where the blacks go.

Another shower is maybe where
you, you know, shit's going on.

Like we used to make wine in on.
So a lot of times guys couldn't

take a shower, because we were
literally cooking wine and we made

the wine out of that shower. So it's
important to know the shower situation.

And you don't just walk around. Like
obviously, when I say watch

the shower situation, you gotta watch
for a minute.

When you see people go to shower,
or you see a person go to the shower,

are they going with their bag and a towel
and just not giving a crap?

It's okay, like there's no tension? Or are
they walking to that shower with

their boots on and their
friends with them?

And then you'll see their friend just
stand on a rail, you know,

outside the shower, just looking
around, watching, you know.

Seeing what's coming.
Because his friend might see

two dudes coming up,
maybe trying to hit that guy.

Maybe that guy's got, you know,
something wrong, something happening

and his friend is going to say,
bang on that door

and say, "Man, get-" and
the guy puts his boots on

and he gets his shank
and he's ready to go.

I don't care if his weiny's
hanging out. Doesn't mean anything.

He's got his shank and he's
got his boots.

Cause you sure don't want to be
left with your dick hanging

in your hand if they're
coming after you with a shank.

So it's important to know
the shower situation.

Watch it, because if you see, you'll feel
it. You'll see how people are reacting.

What times they shower. You'll get an
idea of how the groove goes.

Are the showers even open in the day?
Sometimes they're not.

Who's cleaning the showers? It's
the orderlys in the unit,

but you don't want to just
disrespect a dude and just

and go in while he just did something
he didn't get inspected by the CO

He's going to look at you like
who's this dude?

You wanna know the shower situation,
it's important.

The next rule you wanna know is

the TV Rules. What's going on
in the TV rooms.

In Atlanta, we had 4 TV rooms.
We had a black TV room, a

Hispanic TV room, a white TV room,
and a sports TV room.

Everybody hung out. Now that does
not mean Larry can't go to the

black TV room. He's not gonna,
he's not gonna take a spot from

somebody in that room that's
going in there all the time,

Vice versa, the black guys don't come
into the white guys rooms.

Now, all your friends, you come on in,
"Hey Larry," you know,

"What's going on, I need to
speak to you for a sec."

"Sure, come in for a second,
what's going on?"

or, "Hey," you're running a football
ticket and "I had a winner, man,

look at the game, look at the ticket. It's
guaranteed cause see I didn't

mess something up." You can talk to them.
It's not like you can't meet people

or talk to people in TV rooms.
But you see which TV room is yours

or with your race. They can say "oh,
there's no race going on in prison--"

there is. Depending on the prison you're
in, the prison actually

promotes it. As sad as that is.

Because they'd rather have the blacks
fighting the whites, or the Hispanics

fighting the blacks so they're not worried
about themselves, the prison.

They actually, trust me, they like that,
in their own way.

The fourth is politics.

What's the prison politics?

When I went into Atlanta, you know,
I hated the mob politics.

I call it the mob politics, and the mafia stuff.

You get these old timers,
"Hey, you should talk to him,

wait man, that guys no good,
you'd better be careful with him."

As much as you might not like it,
you gotta know it.

You gotta know who's the guy to
go to.

You gotta know who the shot caller is
in each group.

And the black guys got
a shot caller,

the Hispanics got a shot caller,
the Indians got a shot caller,

the white guys got a shot caller.
Those are the guys you go to

if you have a big beef with someone
before you do something on your own.

They might say "wait, lets
talk to this shot caller"

and they might say "listen, hit him,
do what you want.

Stab him up. Do what you're gonna do."
You know, "It's open, do what you want."

Fifth: Chow Hall Seating. You're gonna
hook up with somebody

and then you gotta know, again,
the chow hall, which side to go to

cause usually there's two sides,
where is your seating area, give or take.

I watched a man get killed
for sitting in the wrong section.

Killed. For sitting in the wrong section.

Obviously, people don't just
come up and stab you if that happens.

But you might think they're trying to
intimidate you and you try to buck up

and sit there, and before you know it
you're in a situation over

sitting in the wrong seat. And when
I saw wrong seat

maybe the shot caller sits in that spot
everyday at 12 o'clock.

Why would you start trouble by
sitting in that seat like you're a badass?

You don't test them like that.
This isn't the county jail where you

gotta hit someone to make it known that
you're not gonna be pushed over.

This is prison.

This is where you are going to live,
for the next X number of years.

And you want to survive it.

Depending on where it is,
you wanna survive it.

Next is the commissary.

The commissary is the store of a prison.

And let me tell you how important
the commissary store is.

You go to commissary every week.
You have a certain day of the week

to go to that store,
by your number.

My number was 52-224-004
So 224. Mine would be the last 4.

They might say all even numbers
go on Tuesdays.

All odd numbers go on Wednesday.
Or whatever system that prison

has set up. You gotta know the commissary.

In Atlanta, when I went to Atlanta,
Atlanta was so wild.

You would get robbed
coming from commissary

cause there was what they call
a "blind area."

So people would literally get robbed
like it's a shake-down or robbery.

You gotta know, what kind of place
it is and who to go with

and you gotta get to know the right people
that you're not a pushover

you're not gonna give your shit up.

What are the items that are hot
in this prison.

You know, certain things are needed.
And then, that goes into the next rule.

You gotta know who the storemen are.

You go, "what do you mean,
what's a storeman?"

A storeman is a guy in prison
who runs, literally, a store.

And he'll charge 2 for 3.

So if you borrowed 2 soups from him,
you gotta give him 3 soups back

on his commissary day. If you borrow
a bar of soap, you might have to give

him two bars of soap when you come back.

Or he'll give you two,
and you gotta give him three bars of soap.

You can buy pretty much
anything off a storeman.

Some of the storemen sell
actually sandwiches

They'll sell drugs of course,
or some sell anything

from sex, to drugs, to whatever.

But the storeman usually sells
items that are on the commissary

and that dude wants his shit back
and if you don't pay him,

you're gonna get stabbed.
Trust me, you will get stabbed.

And it's important to know
the good dudes.

Who's solid, who you can talk to.
If you had an issue, you know,

money didn't come, the guys not gonna
really get offended cause it was

a legit thing. You know, people aren't
assholes in there.

They want their money, they lent
you something, you give it back.

You wanna borrow a book of stamps,
you gotta give him a book and a half back

that's how the money is in prison.
Stamps.

You gotta understand what the
money is in prison.

The most unwritten rule when I was in,
and it has changed a bit since I was in,

but not totally, is who's your
cellmate?

Trust me, who's your cellmate?

I had a cellmate who killed
a man with an axe handle on airforce base.

Good dude. I know you're saying,
"what do you mean, good dude?"

Good dude. I trusted him.

You gotta know who's your "celly"
cause there was a "celly" there

who stabbed his "celly" in the
chest. Killed him.

Put a shank right in his chest.
And went back to bed.

You better know. Unwritten rule?
You gotta be able to read people

and get that "celly" that's
normal.

Cause trust me, it's worth you
bucking it, and going to the hole

and fighting, than getting into a cell
with the wrong guy.

Cause how would you like to be
locked down with a guy

who's a psychopath and at
10 o'clock at night

when the doors are locked
and there's really no guards around

even in the units, you could be
dying in that unit

and they don't give a shit. This guy kills
you, cause he's a violent psychopath.

You gotta feel that out.
You gotta know a couple dudes

You gotta rap with people, you gotta
know how to speak. Understanding how

to talk to people is probably the
best skill you could have.

Number 9, very good
important rule.

Who's the snitches in that place?

Trust me, there's snitches
in all prisons.

You'll see them, the little freakin'
weasels.

They're up near the guard, talking
like they're litte buddies

and stuff, and you look at them like,
"who's this asshole?"

You gotta watch who the snitches are.

And they have what they call
"note droppers."

Or "dry snitchers."
You know, people who would do it sneakily.

Sneak a note under the counselors
door.

Hand a note out at night and
they put in the mailbox.

And then the guards check the mail
every night when they get it out

And when they get it out,
and they see a note, you know,

"Lawton's got a shank in the cell."

That's how you get people shaken down.

And people,
you gotta kind of know who they are.

You can watch the prison for a little bit

and figure out who's the stand up guys.
who's the convicts,

that is super important.

And finally, a very important
unwritten rule in prison is the yard.

You want your rec, you wanna get out
there, and you wanna have rec.

You wanna play handball, you wanna
play basketball, you wanna workout,

you wanna go do pullups, and dips,
and you wanna walk the track,

feel the fresh air, and get sun on
your face.

You gotta know the yard rules.

In prison you'll see different groups
in different sections of a yard.

You can feel tension on a yard right
away and you'll see something jump off.

In a penitentiary though, they will
shoot down on that yard

with the gun towers that
are around that yard

and they will fire down on that yard.

Man, when they say "get down,"
on the yard, boom, you drop.

Cause they will shoot you. They have
bean bags, they have rubber bullets

they have other things but they
also have live ammo.

So they will shoot you.

I've seen them shoot down on a yard, man
and I'm telling you,

you don't know if it's you next.
You sit there, man.

You're still as you can believe.

But knowing the yard rules is
when you go there,

you're going to see a lot of things
on a yard

dudes sharpening shanks along a
concrete, along a fenceline,

and they're leaning against the fence
and they're sharpening the shank.

They're just sharpening, and
sharpening, and sharpening.

What do you think, you
look at them? They don't wanna know

that you're even looking at them.
You're going to see drug deals go down.

You're gonna see punks getting fucked
in the corner sometimes.

You're gonna see stuff go down
on the yard.

You gotta know the yard rules.

Where do you go? Who do you see?
You need something,

who's kinda running the yard? Where are
the guards stationed on the yard?

You know, There's usually the guards in the
tower, you can check them out

you can't see, but you can blind them.

But there might be guards on the yard.

There usually is, you'll see them
walk around.

Something that you gotta know, gotta
have that feel.

You gotta know the yard rules.
If you want rec,

and you sure want rec,
believe me, you wanna get out of that hole

When you're in that hole, when
you're waiting to "get on the compound"

they call it, you're gonna wanna get out
in the fresh air, get sun on that body.

I'm telling you. And you're gonna wanna
connect with the right people

and that's where you do it,
on the yard.

Listen guys, I don't want you in prison,
but if you gotta go I want you to survive.

And no matter what it is,
be respectful of others.

In life and in prison.
Just because you go to prison

doesn't mean you respect people.
In fact, you respect them more.

The dudes you disrespect just might
kill you.

Alright ladies and gentlemen,
have a great day.

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